


Two Flints Make a Fire

by Chimera428



Series: SuperCat Christmas Comes Twice A Year [6]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Accidental Phone Call, Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Almost Kiss, Angst, Astra (Supergirl TV 2015) Lives, Blindfolds, Butt Dialing, Camping, Canon-Typical Violence, Cat Grant Knows Kara Danvers Is Supergirl, Cat Grant Saves Kara Danvers, Cat Grant Saves Supergirl, Cat at the DEO, Confined Spaces, Corporate Retreat, Emotions, Ether of Seasons 1 thru 3, Everybody Knows Kara Danvers is Supergirl, Everyone Thinks They're Together, F/F, Flooding, Good Astra (Supergirl TV 2015), Humor, Hypothermia, Injury Recovery, Intense Situations, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, Jealous Cat Grant, Jealous Kara Danvers, Kara Danvers Needs a Hug, Kryptonian Language, Loss of Powers, Mild Language, Minor Astra/Alex Danvers, Minor Canonical Character(s), Minor Injuries, Minor J'onn J'onzz | Hank Henshaw, Minor Original Character(s), Minor Winn Schott Jr, Minor mentions of General Danvers, Natural Disaster, Near Drowning, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Other: See Story Notes, Panic Attack, Pining, Pre-Relationship, Prompt Fic, Rescue, Separation Anxiety, Sharing Body Heat, Sharing a Bed, Slow Burn Kara Danvers/Cat Grant, Stranded, Supergirl Secret Santa Femslash Exchange 2019, Tags Contain Spoilers, Team Bonding, Teamwork, Thunder and Lightning, Treehouse camping, Universe Altered - Canon, Unresolved Emotional Tension, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Unresolved Tension, Worst Timing Ever, accidental message, and they were ROOMMATES, general danvers, glamping, trust building, under-desk shenanigans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-18
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-02-27 00:20:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 35
Words: 77,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21843733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chimera428/pseuds/Chimera428
Summary: Super Secret Santa Prompt:First Prompt - Supercat -  Cat/Kara pre-relationship or in a relationship camping trip.Second Prompt - SuperCat - Cat/Kara- Kara accidentally sends a text/email love letter she wrote in a moment of frustration.
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Cat Grant
Series: SuperCat Christmas Comes Twice A Year [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1343821
Comments: 616
Kudos: 561
Collections: Super Santa Femslash 2019





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thetemptationisstrong](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thetemptationisstrong/gifts).



> No beta so mistakes are my own cause where's the gift in spoils? ;)

Cat stretched with a bit of a shudder, snagging her glasses from her face with a well placed finger before tossing the layouts and the frames onto her desk. She pushed to a stand, gathering her robe from the back of her home office chair, not bothering to put it on since she was headed to bed anyway. 

She glanced at the clock on the wall as she passed into her bedroom, making a mental note that Carter should be texting her any moment saying he was at his father's for winter break. It was why she had left CatCo early this afternoon and buried herself in work after seeing him off thereafter. 

Cat hung her robe on the hook by the bathroom, grabbing her phone from her dresser before slipping into the master ensuite to finish up before calling it a night. Turning off her do not disturb setting via muscle memory before she set her phone aside and turned on the sink. 

By the time her mirror fogged with steam her phone chirped at her and with another slow pass of a cloth over her face she gave a small smile to her reflection. Noting how punctual her son was. 

She patted her skin dry, taking a seat at her vanity as she picked through the items on the tray along the counter while swiping the lock screen up to check the message. 

Only there wasn't one. 

Not a text message anyway. She did see the little icon indicating she had a voicemail. Her heart fell at the thought she missed a call from her son as she let out a small sigh of disappointment, knowing it was too late to call him back without disrupting her ex's household. 

Then again, there was another part of her that could care less if she did so. While her lawyers voice in her head reminded her to be amicable. Cat pulled in a slow breath, connecting to voicemail before hitting the speaker button as she smoothed her nightly serum along her skin. 

" _ You have one unheard voice message."  _

"I know…" Cat muttered, hands running along her throat. 

" _ First message, seven-twenty-eight pm…" _

Cat frowned at the timestamp, that was only a couple hours after Carter had left. He wasn't supposed to land in Metropolis with his father until after ten National City time. 

“ _...I can’t even describe it, she just walks in and it’s like everything for this single, existential moment is absolutely perfect."  _

Cat rose a high brow hearing Kara's voice over the line followed by a rustle and then another. 

_ "Seriously?" _

_ "Listen, I don't know how to explain it. Just, that's what it's like Alex." _

Now Cat had context as to whom Kara was conversing with.

_ "Yeah ok. Then what about ' _ after', _ when she rules her kingdom with an iron fist?" _

Kara sighed. _ "Alex she's not… it's not like when I first started. She's different now. I mean, now it's worse." _

_ "What? The ruling part?" _

_ "No."  _ Kara stated with an almost childlike petulence. _ "Come on Alex." _

_ "Well, what then?" _

Cat strained to listen, as if she could will the pre-recorded message to grant her more insight than it already was. 

There was another heavy rustle and a scrape of noise before Kara's voice continued. 

_ "Maybe it's because I'm not her assistant anymore, or that I miss that, or her, or-" _

_ "Spit it out already." _

_ "She wore this dress"  _ Kara began and Cat could already see the woman in her head gesticulating to express her point _.  _

_ "With these zippers that go ' _ all the way' _ up…" _

Cat let her hands settle into her lap as she looked at her phone. The barest rise of heat coiling around her chest at Kara's implications. She knew the dress, it was one of her favorites and fit her with absolute perfection. The zippered accents added shape to her figure and drew a proper line amidst the panels of color. She hadn't considered it to be so titillating, at least not in the way Kara's tone laid out. 

_ "And then someone else is giving her coffee and handling her all day and I'm just watching from the reporter den all-" _

Cat frowned, there were no windows with a vantage point into her office from the reporter's den. Just a solid wall. 

" _ Wait, Kara, you watched her through the-" _

_ "No…"  _ Kara said defensively _. "Not… exactly I just… I dunno! She... she just… she looked so… : _ zhaolia _ " _

_ "KARA!"  _ Alex sounded scandalized and Cat couldn't place the region of whatever language Kara had just used. 

" _ Of all the Kryptonian words you could use to describe Cat, you come up with 'fuckable'?!" _

Cat's eyes widened tenfold, not only at what Kara had said but  _ how _ she said it.

" _ Oh like you never looked at someone that way _ ." There was an 'oof' and another rustle as if something had been thrown. " _ That's not  _ exactly  _ what that word means, there are layers and nuance-" _

_ "That's not what Astra told me." _

Kara made a frustrated sound.  _ "I never should have told you." _

There was more rustling followed by what sounded like a bit of a struggle before Alex's voice came through louder than before. 

" _ Hold on Kara. You're telling me that you lost your head this morning, because Cat wore a dress with zippers?" _

_ "Alex it's not funny."  _

_ "-And- you had no other response other than to pretend to be scalded by coffee and ruin your article for Snapper because you were all hot and bothered or-" _

_ "It was a moment ok? I'm allowed that." _

Alex chuckled. " _ Alright, alright I'm sorry, it's just…" _

" _ What _ ?"

" _ Usually it's the way her mind works, how great she is with her son. How intense she was while going over your latest article, to if you should surprise her with lunch or dinner, and what it would be like to just wake up to her... smitten kitten stuff not- _

_ "End of message" _

Cat wanted to scream.

" _ To delete this message press seven, to save-" _

Cat scrambled for the phone hitting the dial pad on accident in her haste.

" _ Message marked for deletion." _

"Shit."

" _ End of messages. You have one message marked for deletion. To save this message press nine, to replay this message press-" _

Cat hit the nine button and waited. 

_ "Message saved. To replay this message-" _

Cat hit the replay button and waited only to have the volume drop out as a text message came over her screen from Carter.

_ "Here. Flight was fun. Your plane is better though. Love you. Will call in the morning." _

Kara's message repeated as Cat typed out her own brisk reply, careful not to trigger another deletion. 

_ "Maybe it's because I'm not her assistant anymore, or that I miss that, or her, or-" _

_ "Spit it out already." _

_ "She wore this dress" _

Cat cleared her text screen and ended her voicemail call. Taking another moment to stare at her phone and the red lettering of " _ Call Ended"  _ until her screen dimmed. 

Cat tapped the screen again as she came back into herself. She thumbed over to her call logs to see if she had missed another call from Kara. Only to find that she hadn't, before flipping back to her text messages screen, again finding it vacant beyond the text from her son. 

It was already into Saturday now, and she had no idea if Kara was out enjoying her weekend or trying to salvage whatever article she had purposefully ruined to cover her own ass at work. 

Then again Kara  _ could _ do both. 

Alex had all but confirmed Kara spoke Kryptonese. Now, rationally, if Cat didn't already have her suspicions, which were more unspoken truth than anything, she could chalk it up to Kara being friends with Supergirl. Cat knew Snapper had fallen for it, so she assumed, as did the rest of the office in Kara's immediate circle with her new position as a reporter. 

Being related to another prolific reporter with his own ties to a caped crusader didn't hurt that ideal either. Of course, Cat knew better. At least Kara had had the wherewithal to be moderately more inconspicuous than her super cousin. In fact, it was Kara, as Supergirl, that had finally tipped Cat's own suspicions about her assistant. Ever since that first hilltop interview and not the other way around with her slip-up at mentioning Superman as her cousin. 

Still, even that could be excused if one wanted to do so. Which, Cat had wondered if half the office didn't just play along for Supergirl's sake. 

The whole looking through Cat's office wall however was a little harder to will away. Again one could if they wanted. Anyone could convince themselves of just about anything with enough repetition and choice belief in the lie over the truth. 

Cat had been one of those people to a degree. 

Still was. 

There was an underlying safety net in believing that lie. In  _ wanting _ to believe it over the actual truth. Even Kara had relied on that even after she put on her own cape. 

Cat looked at her phone again, fingers curling into her palm as she weighed her options. 

She would be lying if she said Kara hadn't turned her head a time or two. It had been a driving force at pushing the other woman away so hard once she had determined Kara was  _ that _ Kara. It might also be the reason Cat herself wanted to believe the lie. 

There was a power to be had being able to practically command someone like that and have them follow through without hesitation. 

What had thrown Cat off more was how much Kara wanted to do it. Even with the threat of Cat firing her for no other reason than Cat not being able to live with someone needing Supergirl and the heroine not reaching them in time on her conscience. Especially if the reason was because Kara was running an errand for her. 

And yet.

Even after Kara had stepped down, she still made the effort to try and fool Cat with that whole doppelganger incident, and Cat allowed herself the go ahead to believe the lie. 

Right alongside the one where she didn't have feelings beyond their professional standing. That one she had let lax more than she wanted to admit even now. It was also one of the reasons she had been entertaining Olivia's offer as her press secretary. 

That sudden lapse into reality made Cat put her phone back down, Kara's contact page still open on her screen. She swallowed thickly, Kara and Alex's words settling in her mind as she worked her jaw. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	2. Chapter 2

Despite mulling over the revelation she had been gifted Friday concerning Kara, Monday had brought about a few surprises of its own.

Which only furthered Cat's steadfast inclination towards despising surprises.

"This is utterly ridiculous."

"It's not ridiculous, it's mandated." 

Cat eyed Helen where the woman sat behind her desk as she continued to pace inside the woman's office. The rest of HR was just outside, watching Cat’s silhouette through the frosted glass stalk slowly back and forth like some kind of animal. 

"Listen, Cat, I don't make the rules, they're set by the state ethics board. This was the least invasive option. Not that we have anything to hide or obscure here." 

Cat sighed darkly, still pacing as she glanced around the smaller office. 

"It's better than the three month program option. If we take an initiative then it shows a sign of good faith with CatCo and you." 

Cat slowed to a stop then, looking at Helen. "Was I named?"

Helen winced internally at that. "By one or two  _ former _ employees, who also had a litany of other complaints against them. You also didn't let them go, personally, but they noted preferential treatment, lack of advancement, discrimination," with Cat's raised eyebrow Helen pinned her with a look. "It's all unfounded and there are plenty of reviews by a handful of supervisors that corroborate that fact, however."

Cat made a face, bracing herself for impact. 

"CatCo, especially the upper floors, isn't exactly a font of glowing internal employee reviews either."

Cat looked genuinely upset by that for a fleeting moment before she started to pace again. 

"Beyond a few," Helen softened the blow as much as she could. She knew the deeper reason why the employees who worked top floor with Cat had so little to offer in employment reviews. 

It was an odd solidarity pact, or at least that's what Helen had guessed. Any current reviews were from Cat's former assistant from a year ago. Lucy Lane from legal before she left back to military service. Winn Schott Jr, again, fresh from his leave of CatCo and James Olsen, Cat’s designated stand-in CEO when out of town. With those four, somewhat bias but not glaringly so, reviews of CatCo and the work environment, no one else on the floor had made the effort to add anything. 

Other reviews prior weren't as in-depth and again had come from all former employees who had found jobs in other markets, having used CatCo as a jumping off point. Which wasn't horrible by any standard but it didn't exactly play into the whole career vein for CatCo either. There were plenty of career level employees, and if they weren't in some position of management it was due in part to their appreciation for their current less responsibility laden position. 

Again, there was nothing wrong with that either, except no one really went above and beyond to lay that out in an employment or company review. Sure there was always a looking threat that one might say the wrong thing and pull management or even Cat's attention but the culture now was so different. Despite being corporate there was such a push to be more along the lines of overnight tech boomers and social media cultivators. As if being a world-wide media corporation wasn't difficult enough to keep relevant. 

Helen had done her standard meetings with all employees but those from the top floor, Cat's floor, had little to say beyond it being a great job and beneficial to their future careers. Woefully understated and lacking in anything substantive. 

"It's not exactly the safest environment either to be honest."

Cat turned sharply. "What does that mean, exactly?"

Helen drew in a deep breath, sitting back in her chair. "We've had to rebuild it, or parts of it, seven times in the past three years." 

Cat rose a brow at that. "I own the building, I'm aware of the upkeep."

"The building yes, the surrounding real estate not so much."

Cat shifted her jaw with another turn. That wasn't for lack of trying. Cat owned plenty of property around National City and sat on the boards of other companies she had investments in but Helen was right. In the immediate area she only owned the area CatCo sat on and its adjoined plaza. 

"It's not exactly standard upkeep, Cat. There  _ is _ a certain leeway that's given. Add in your otherworldly contacts that have vastly improved the structure and integrity of the building, especially your floor, and the surrounding infrastructure but-"

Cat held up her hand stopping Helen from explaining further, before she resumed pacing again. 

"Technically you're the only one who's required to complete this." the cut of Cat’s eyes spoke volumes but Helen continued regardless. "Not because you're you, but because you're the CEO and owner. The addition of other employees is merely a greasing of the wheels so to speak." 

"How long?" Cat interrupted not looking at her HR director. 

Undoubtedly the woman had seen miles of paperwork by this point no thanks to Supergirl and Cat's friendship with her. If one could call it that. To be fair, Cat hadn't explored the depths of that connection as much as she would have liked and certainly not for lack of trying. It was hard to justify when Supergirl was most often in the midst of saving the city or the world whenever they were in the same space with one another. 

Cat had initially channeled that want of companionship and truth be told friendship into her assistant until even Cat realized she was holding her back. Now Kara was under Snapper's charge, although her open door office policy still applied. Kara was already months into her tenure as a reporter soaring to new heights weekly on the back of Supergirl's cape or some alien themed op-ed. 

She had become CatCo’s voice for the voiceless, with plenty of help from Supergirl. A regular Clark Kent for The Tribune, only dare she say it, better. There was a righteous edge to Kara's pieces, a connection Kent didn't seem to have beyond his own reporting of Superman, but even he covered more human based topics as opposed to his cousin. 

Truth be told, Cat more than suspected the two of them were their Superhero counterparts, but enough photo ops and interviews had been done to put those suspicions to rest. At least as far as the public was concerned. Cat on the other hand not so much. Which of course, only complicated the whole of this entire mess she was in now. Especially after the voicemail still saved on her phone.

"One week tops. You can fold it into a four-day with the weekend for productivity's sake."

Cat worked her jaw visibly. The old Cat would have called down the bullshit and toppled a mountain to get around this somehow, but now…

"I get to pick half of who's going." 

"Cat-"

"The rest can come from your list there." Cat made a fleeting gesture towards the employee files Helen had offered Cat prior. "Hand picked by your department for CatCo's sake. I've been burned enough as it is when it comes to trust in some of my employees despite what's in the job descriptions." 

Helen had no argument there and with a resigned sigh gave a small nod. 

"And nothing too crazy, I'm not jumping out of a plane on a deserted island or anything." 

"It's a corporate retreat centered on team building."

"It's ridiculous." Cat argued once more. 

"Just try to think of it like undercover boss or something."

"Except I'm not undercover Helen."

  
  
  



	3. Chapter 3

"Do you feel that with the amnesty act there are others now who-"

Kara's phone buzzed again, halting her next question as she gave yet another apology. 

"M'gann I'm so sorry."

"Kara it's all right. You realize we could do this any time? I could even come by early for game night."

"It's easier during the early part of the day, less people, and it's supposed to be turned in for final review before Friday's deadline. Snapper knows I'm out on assignment…" Kara offered up as she fished her phone out of her pocket. 

"Maybe it's not him." M'gann stated, giving Kara's arm a squeeze. "Be right back."

Kara nodded with a sigh as she unlocked her phone, pulling up her missed calls. Her brow furrowed when she saw CatCo's standard number, her shoulders squared when she saw Helen from HR's number follow it and she nearly dropped the thing when she saw Cat's number. 

Kara switched over to her text screen, seeing a request for Kara to contact Helen as soon as she was able followed by Cat sending her a message that she was needed back at the office. 

"Rao bless it…" Kara swore just as M'gann passed by again, slowing to a stop. 

"What's wrong?"

"I think I'm being fired."

"What? Why?"

"I… I don't know. Snapper called, then HR then Ca-er Miss Grant and that's never a good sign no matter what order it's in."

"But why would they fire you? Much less try to contact you first about it? CatCo isn't exactly the type of business to give much warning in that department when someone gets let go so abruptly."

Kara looked up at the other woman with a high brow. 

"You're not the only alien that's worked there y'know." M'gann kept her voice low enough so only Kara could hear that comment. "If you did something to cause that, you'd only know you were let go when your badge didn't work and security met you at the sidewalk with a box of your things."

"Note taken." Kara sent a reply to HR first, stating she was on her way back. "Regardless, we'll catch up later. Might be over the phone but-"

"Just get going."

**\-------**

Helen stood at the head of the conference table on her floor, eyeing the few employees that were actually in the building from Cat and her list. Idly wondering if the three month program wouldn't be a better option, and, truth be told, about her own life choices if this was where they had led her. 

At the very least it was a diverse group, from all parts and cogs that were part of the greater CatCo machine. 

There was Leon from accounting, Marin from copywriting, Pip from the art department, and Hunter from editing. They were still waiting on Kara, no surprise there really at least as far as Helen was concerned, and Orin from the mailroom. Cat of course was nowhere to be found but had promised to be there an hour ago. 

Those assembled looked around curiously, keeping to themselves for the most part but the tension building in the room was growing. Helen glanced at her watch once more just as the door opened, revealing Orin and Kara who immediately silenced whatever chatter they had been indulging in as Helen caught their eye. 

"That just leaves-"

"Right here." Cat announced, coming in from the other side while Kara and Orin took their seats. 

"Oh good." Helen allowed with a slightly sarcastic lilt as Cat's newest assistant buzzed around her before vacating the room with the majority of Cat's things. Something Helen noted had pulled Kara's attention for longer than would have been considered passing curiosity. 

"I'm sure you're all wondering why you've been called in here, and I can assure you, no one here is in any kind of trouble or up for review."

"Quite the opposite," Cat invaded, standing at the head of the table near Helen as she looked at the group. "Think of this as more of an opportunity. The first of many for sure, but that's the key here. You all will be the first, and assuming it all goes well enough may one day be standing here, ushering in the next." 

Helen rose a high brow at that, while her stomach turned for fear that Cat was going to turn this into something other than what it was intended. 

Her attention shifted to Orin who raised a hand near the arm of his chair. 

"Question?"

Orin nodded, glancing to the others before looking at Helen while avoiding direct eye contact with Cat. 

"While I'm thankful for the opportunity, forgive me for asking what that opportunity is?"

"I knew I liked you." Cat allowed, again overstepping Helen. "Concise. To the point. Shows initiative." 

Orin's brow furrowed but he offered a vague smile waiting for more exposition. 

"CatCo's first annual retreat."

The others gathered at the table straightened. Each one of them exchanging looks between each other before rounding back to Helen and Cat. 

"I thought the board already did that?" Marin asked, encouraged by a few agreeing nods until Cat crossed her arms over her chest. 

"We-"

"There is an executive retreat mid-year." Helen interrupted this time, sending Cat a look before glancing to the others gathered. "This is geared a little closer to CatCo's foundations."

Helen gestured to those at the table to indicate that they were the foundation. 

"Nothing is stable without a solid foundation." Helen pressed, again looking to Cat who remained quiet this go around. "With that in mind, you all were selected for this preliminary venture. In order to build on that foundation with each other and eventually CatCo."

"By going to Costa Rica?"

Cat glanced at Pip as he spoke up. 

"More like Klamath Mountains." Helen clarified as the group looked even more confused. "Northern California." 

Even Cat looked a little iffy at the mention. That was far closer to Oregon than she had expected them to go. In fact she had figured it would something closer to the Santa Cruz area. 

Helen moved then, gathering the small set of binders she had put together before making her way around the table. 

"At the back you'll find the same agreement page as in the employee handbook, with a few alterations that will include this little excursion. Part of the selection process for each of you took into account the fact no one was a caregiver for someone else. Seeing as it is short notice if there are conflicts, there are others we can choose from if need be and it should be noted this not a mandate for your continued employment here." 

Cat took her binder, setting it on the table in front of her. "Helen is right, this is as I said an opportunity. It's not an obligation." At least not for any of you Cat thought. 

Kara glanced around to the others, her mind already racing not only because if anyone did have some kind of obligation it would be her, what with being Supergirl, but also because of the dress Cat was wearing. 

She hadn't seen this one before. It was one she wouldn't have missed. Not with the zippered key hole split across Cat's upper chest that gave a glimpse of her collarbones. 

"You'll still be paid for Monday and Friday for those who are not on salary, and additional compensations will be given. Anything that needs to be purchased for the trip will need to be submitted via expense reports that are given to me." Helen explained. 

"I'm in,"Pip offered as he flipped through the outlined agreement and consent forms before initialling each page. After another round of looks the majority of the table followed suit. 

Helen stepped closer to Cat, drawing her aside a moment. "There's one more spot open."

"No there isn't." Cat allowed, giving Helen a faint and knowing smile. 

Helen felt her stomach drop out with that. "Meaning what?" 

Cat offered her the last binder. "Hope you didn't have any plans for the weekend."

  
  
  
  
  
  



	4. Chapter 4

"You can't be serious?" Alex stated as the pair walked through the DEO. Kara was still brushing debris off her suit as they passed through ops and towards Alex's office. 

"I know there's a lot of things I would joke about. Going on some corporate trust building retreat thing with seven other people from CatCo, including Cat, is not one of them."

Alex slid into her desk chair easily, as she pulled up agent reports from the latest incident Supergirl had just come from. Kara's words went in her brain, then out as she skimmed over agent accounts and estimated damages before that last little bit of what Kara said slammed back into her awareness. 

"Cat is going?!"

Kara came around to the chair across Alex's desk and flopped down into it rather ungracefully. "Don't start."

Alex tipped her head, the reports forgotten as she scooted forward. "Kara, why didn't you say you had a conflict or something?"

"Two things would have happened there. One I would have been the only one and then would have had to explain why within reason or two, I would have started a chain reaction and suddenly everyone would have had conflicts."

"And that would have been bad either way why now?"

Kara sighed. "You know why with the first one. Cat would have wanted to know why in detail, and unless I stood up and said I'm Supergirl she probably wouldn't have bought anything else I said."

"And the other."

"I'm not about to do that to her." Kara allowed, knowing there were plenty of people in the world that didn't exactly have Cat on a top ten favorite people list. "We were all supposedly chosen for this thing. Turning it down seems almost hurtful and I know what that feels like on both sides."

"So you're protecting her by making it easier for her to figure out who you really are?"

Kara sighed again, feeling a headache coming on. "Maybe I am." Kara snarked, forcing Alex to sit back a bit. 

A part of Kara already assumed Cat knew and was either waiting for the right opportunity to use it or, that Cat was willingly keeping that secret for the same reason Kara hadn't backed out of all this when she could have. 

Alex stood from her chair and moved around her desk, sitting on the edge of it looking at Kara. 

"Look, I'm not trying to be an ass." With Kara's look Alex smirked faintly. "Ok not that big of an ass, and I know you have… strong feelings about Cat."

"Alex…"

"No, listen a minute. Please?"

Kara pulled in a deep breath, swing to settle a bit from her defensive posturing. 

"If it was just you and Cat, I'd probably be telling you to just go for it because that's some kind of big sign there." Alex offered, crossing her arms over her chest. "But this isn't like that. This is about CatCo and those other employees and then Cat."

"What does that even mean Alex?" 

"It puts me a little on edge _because_ it's not just the two of you. If it were just you and Cat and something happened that might require a little more Supergirl than Kara…"

"You're worried I'll expose myself? After this long at-?"

"I'm worried because after what you've told me about this place, you're not exactly going to have the kind of access or availability to get away if I need Supergirl."

Kara couldn't argue that. Surely a wooded mountainous region would provide just as much getaway cover if Supergirl was needed. If she were just camping or on a kind of vacation. This little endeavor for CatCo wasn't anything like that. Not to mention-

"At least you'll have your own room or…" Alex hesitated with the sudden downturn of Kara's gaze.

"You don't have your own room?"

Kara shook her head and Alex felt her head starting to throb. 

"Well that's going to complicate things a little more. I take it they're separating the men and women into-"

"I'm rooming with Cat." 

Alex sat up straighter, eyebrow reaching towards her hairline. "You're what!?"

"Sharing a space with Cat?"

"Well shit."

Kara frowned. "You just said if it was _just_ me and Cat-"

"Yes. You and Cat. By invitation, some kind of getaway she personally invited you to. Not shared space on a CatCo work thing with other employees around."

Kara sat up as Alex slid off the desk, turning to watch her pace around. "What's got you so worked up about all this? It's just a few days, Astra or J'onn can cover and-"

"And Cat'll have a fun time pulling you down from the ceiling if you still float in your sleep."

"Oh… I… I just won't sleep then."

"Kara."

"Alex." Kara pushed to a stand intercepting her sister. "I'll be fine, I'll be careful. I promise."

"The crinkle in your forehead tells me otherwise."

"There is no-" Kara made a face when Alex pressed the line just above the bridge of her nose. 

"Crinkle, loud and proud."

Kara made a noise of irritation before pulling away while Alex refused to let go of her. 

"Just… how long?"

"How long what?"

"How long is this little _opportunity_ supposed to be?"

"We leave Thursday on Cat's plane then we're back Tuesday."

Alex let out a deep, weighted exhale. Clearly calculating things in her head a bit as she considered not only this but what other possibilities it could hold for Kara. As much teasing as Alex threw Kara's way about Cat she knew how her sister felt about the other woman. 

Honestly Alex couldn't fault her, Cat was indeed someone that could inspire plenty in those within her sphere. Kara notwithstanding, but she also knew Kara hadn't felt more than a surface level attraction towards much of anyone since they were younger. Even that had seemed to change the moment Kara landed her job at CatCo, if one didn't include any of the times Kara talked about Cat when she had caught a glimpse of the woman while working at Noonan's before that.

Nor could Alex argue about the potency of attraction in some instances. Although usually it was reciprocal. Astra had likened it to being hit with a car and given how Alex and she had met initially she wasn't far off. Negotiating around the obvious had been difficult enough, more so for Alex it seemed than Astra. 

Then again Alex had very nearly killed her but in doing so, along with J'onn's intervention, had actually freed Astra from the the mind trap Indigo and Non had subjected her to over the years.

Had the various opportunities, unseen as they were, not been present to lead them down that path then, both her and Astra's lives would have taken a far different turn. 

"You need to be careful, at least when you're around everyone else. I know you hate to suppress your powers and I'm not asking you to, I'm just asking that you be aware. When you and Cat are alone… I trust your judgement on whatever, if anything, that you decide with her."

"Alex-"

"Listen, you said those very same words to me about Astra and I needed to hear them. Even when I did nothing. It allowed me a kind of safety net for when I did actually tell her how I felt. So I want you to know, as your sister, not your director, if you really have feelings for Cat the way I think you do, don't squander it."

**\-------**

"You cannot be for real."

"I most certainly can. Who else is going to make sure I complete the mandated things required of me Helen?"

"I'm the HR director not your baby-sitter Cat."

"That changed when you put Kara on the list of employees to go."

"What? How?"

"I should be asking you that. What kind of game are you playing at?"

"She was your former assistant, she got a helluva promotion and right now she's just as much of a target in CatCo as you are for scrutiny." 

"So you out her as one of the eight? Helen come on, what's really-"

Helen didn't have time for this. "No one else would go if someone they felt moderately safe with, like Kara for example didn't go."

Cat stopped abruptly, her expression easily read as hurt and Helen wished Cat didn't have a way with getting under her skin enough to just blurt things out like that. 

"That came out wrong."

Cat shifted her jaw, her hands settling on her hip. "I think it came out just fine."

"Kara is the only one who could go that-"

"That what?"

"Isn't required to be here in your absence or hasn't moved on to bigger things thanks to you and CatCo. That's maybe still not the best way to put it but it says a lot about what you've managed to accomplish here with your employees. Which is also on the report I'm filing with the state board by the way." 

Cats hackles eased somewhat but the sting of Helen's initial statement lingered. It still meant to some degree that the others who had been chosen might have said no outright if it was just them and Cat. 

She really shouldn't be shocked. Cat had a reputation after all and she wasn't about to be the kind of boss who spent friend time with her employees. That just wasn't her style regardless of some other compatible companies. 

Cat squared her shoulders and cleared her throat, her impassive mask slipping back into place. "Just make sure everything is prepped and ready for Thursday. Including the plane, I'll be in my office if you need anything more from me." 

Helen watched as Cat left her office heaving a dark sigh when she was out of earshot. Picking Kara had been a gamble. Especially given the rumors running around the office between her and Cat. 

The latest one had been about how the two had broken up which was why Cat was testier and withdrawn and why Kara was out of the office so much anymore. It didn't help Cat now had two assistants to handle the job Kara had done before. 

Helen knew if nothing else with Kara going along now, it would spark more rumors she would likely have to send a generalized notice out about. The rumors about the two initially getting together were still abound, just under the surface of the breakup ones and yet Helen couldn't substantiate either. Had never been able to honestly. 

Maybe, just maybe with this little endeavor she could put them all to rest one way or another. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	5. Chapter 5

Despite the slight awkward nature of the week as it passed, nothing could compare to the Thursday morning Kara found herself in the middle of now. 

She, along with the other employee complement, the head of HR and one Cat Grant had arrived at work only to be crowded into a company limo and driven to CatCo's private airfield. They were then loaded into one of the company jets and thusly flown north. 

Both rides had been silent and tension riddled. Enough to make Kara almost wish she had flown herself regardless of the consequences. 

The transport to whatever lodge they were staying at was less than pleasing. For the bulk of them it was actually a bit of an adventure. Most had barely traveled beyond commercial coach, much less a private jet. While almost all of them hadn't left the bay area beyond National City. 

Were it not for their boss and owner, it might have been more enjoyable. Instead, it only seemed to get even more tense when the fifteen passenger van, with its custom paint job denoting the lodge they were staying at, arrived to take them to their final destination for the next four days. 

Their luggage, sparse as it was, was loaded in the back, which meant the group would be sitting closer together. That had been done enough, until Cat was informed that she couldn't ride in the front with the driver. 

Kara almost likened that to picking teams for kickball in middle school or drawing straws. Knowing one of them would be nestled beside their boss for the hour drive to the lodge. The others paired quickly without word, amidst knowing glances between them and settled into the van. 

Kara had been thankful she couldn't read minds and at the same time, when she saw how  _ that _ affected Cat, wished she could. It didn't help matters that Cat was still dressed as the executive mogul that she was. Although that was due entirely to a meeting with the board she had been required to attend before they all left. 

Even Helen had the opportunity to change, having done so on the plane but Cat had remained as she was. Try as Cat might to not let her irritation show, Kara could easily see the nuances of Cat's mood seeping through her mask. 

Nuances, that with the latest round of actions from her work colleagues, were far more pronounced now. Where some might see it as embarrassment or even ire, Kara saw it for what it was. 

Cat was genuinely hurt. 

Except Kara had no idea how to fix it. Were she still Cat's assistant, anything she might do or say could be seen in that vein. Whereas now, it would no doubt be looked on as fodder for more rumors around the office when they all returned. 

Regardless, Kara had lingered just enough to try and convey that she had no issue with Cat or being next to her. Quite the opposite, but even that gesture, done out of a kind of friendship between the two women, would be even more scrutinized. 

Even still, Kara couldn't help but offer a hand to help Cat up into the van. What she hadn't expected was for Cat to send her a glare and refuse the offer. Kara had tried to hide that stringer by reaching further over in order to shut the sliding door once Cat was seated. 

The fact she shut it just a little too hard however, went around the rest of the group with another series of knowing looks by the rest of the people in the van. Which served to add even more fuel to the growing tension between the eight of them. 

Kara could get over that, eventually, after all this entire excursion was about getting to know people better and come together in order to work more efficiently. That was until the next little stumble in their retreat was something even Kara wasn't altogether sure they could weather. 

" _ This _ is where we're staying?" Cat huffed, somehow managing to keep her stiletto heels from sinking into the soft ground. 

"I booked the private cabins," Helen offered but that did little to soothe the glare Cat had leveled on her. 

"Did you happen to check beforehand what those  _ cabins _ would entail?"

Admittedly Helen should have, but when Cat had named her as the eighth and final person to go along on this little venture, she had been a little less observant on their lodging choices. It had been amusing to think of Cat out in the northern wilds until it also included herself, so she had changed their initial reservations to the more isolated portion of the Knotty Pine Lodge. 

What she was being shown now was not what she had intended at all.

"Are those…?"

"Tree houses." Kara interrupted Pip with an odd sense of wonder. Because they were indeed a smattering of private treehouses built high up in the surrounding forests about five miles from the actual lodge and their signature cabins. 

These were the specialty cabins, ones Helen had been assured would offer plenty of opportunity for the task laid out for them. Including a private overseer that would be the supposed task master for this endeavor. 

Except even they were staying at the main lodge. 

"This is awesome," Marin said under her breath, turning a bit to take in the height and expanse of each little private sanctuary. All of which were interlinked by rope and wood bridges a good twenty feet up or more after diverting from a main stairway that sound around some giant tree.

"I've heard of corporate retreats but nothing like this," Orin offered as he and Leon surveyed their would be homes for the next few days. 

"Score one for Cat...er CatCo.." Hunter quipped before shouldering their bag.

It certainly wasn't ideal, but as each of her employees spoke up, which was the first time in nearly six hours, Cat couldn't bring herself to argue against it. She pulled in a deep breath, hands settled on her hips. 

"So where is this fearless leader?" Cat drawled looking around. 

"Ronnie won't be up until tomorrow," their driver offered. "She said the cabins are stocked enough that you won't need to come down to the lodge and figured you'd want at least one free day to yourselves to get acclimated and settled."

"What about our, uh, basic needs here?" Helen questioned, drawing the sudden attention of the others. It hadn't occurred to them just how far from anything they genuinely were. 

There was no running water, at least none they could see. Some electricity by the look of it but no doubt based on solar or some other kind of natural energy source. Perhaps Cat should make a fuss now. 

"There's a whole set of instructions inside each little house there for what you're asking for. Water comes through a filtration system we've got piped through and there's a well pump at the baseline near the center. Each space has an on demand water heater but it's only good for one shower at best."

"So only one of use gets a hot shower?!"

The man chuckled softly, watching those in the group look between themselves. 

"Or you could share," he gave a shrug only to realize that was the last thing he should have said with the wife eyed looks that were thrown his way. 

"You've got about four hours of good light. There's a sat phone in the big house and emergency kits too. Unless you want to come up to the main lodge and try to sort it?"

Cat shifted her jaw set on returning to the main lodge. Her heels scraped along the ground as she turned only to find the bulk of the group ready to load back into the van. The fact that Kara and Hunter lingered behind, their bags still on the ground, did not go unnoticed. 

Cat raised a high brow, looking the others over while simultaneously making up her mind. 

"And where are you all going?"

Cat's sickly sweet tonal shift made the group come to a halt while Hunter and Kara exchanged looks before Kara tucked her lips in to hide her smile. 

She knew that tone all too well. 

Helen stepped forward after a glance to the others. "Cat…"

The woman cut her eyes towards the woman, her brow arcing impossibly higher. "I can't think of a better way to build trust to be honest." 

Cat watched the relief drain from the larger portion of the group with her words. The corner of her mouth quirking a touch higher before she parted them like the red sea. Kara and Hunter moved aside as Cat grabbed her own travel bag and started up the initial plank walk towards the interconnected tree houses. 

"You heard the man, we only have four hours of good light. I suggest you all get acquainted with your dwellings and their rustic nuances before it gets dark."

Kara grabbed her bag from the ground, hurrying up a bit to catch up with Cat and help her if the woman allowed it. She would have to stay even more alert now, not only to keep her own secrets but to ensure everyone else along with her was kept safe. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	6. Chapter 6

"I'm going to kill her," Cat thought as she stood at the end of the only bed in the small dwelling. Had she planned for this kind of aesthetic, it would have been far larger and on some other continent. Then again she might not have chosen tree houses so much as a yurt but still. This was utterly ridiculous. 

Kara was still in the main area, having opted for going over whatever instructions had been provided to them on the items in their treehouse. She cast a glance in Cat's direction where she was now knelt by the small wood burning stove before turning back. 

Kara lifted her glasses for just a second, sending a sharp burst of heat towards the already piled wood inside. Blowing carefully over the smoldering scorch of her heatvison before the kindling sputtered to life. 

"That should do," Kara said to herself before standing just as Cat's heels drummed across the floor. 

"Seems you're handy in a pinch," Cat muttered, watching the flames catch and grow as she surveyed their surroundings. 

Kara straightened her glasses as a force of habit before turning to look at the other woman. "You look-"

"If you say irritated you're sleeping outside."

"I was going to say uncomfortable," Kara said quietly, noting that Cat was still dressed to the nines for business as usual at CatCo and not their current location. 

Cat drew in a sharp breath through her nose, letting her exhale carry itself across the space audibly. She shifted her stance, arms coming to cross over her chest. 

"There's only one bed." Might as well rip that band-aid off. "I'm not sure-"

"The floor will be fine," Kara rushed, pulling Cat's hyper-focused attention to her. Her chest tightening at the barest flinch she saw cross Cat's features. 

"If... I mean, not that I want to sleep on the floor but I uh, I know you like space and being so far from the usual comforts of home…" Cat’s expression wasn't improving the more Kara rambled. "Options, just… I wanted to give you options if…"

Cat licked her lips slowly, swallowing her initial comment before giving a small nod. Were it anyone else she wouldn't hesitate in the least with that offer. A part of her wanted to take it now, but not for the same reasons. 

"We're both grown adults," Cat stated slowly, clearing her throat. "I'm fairly certain we’re capable of sharing the same space." Cat hadn't figured on that kind of space but-

"I know this _arrangement_ isn't ideal for you in the least. Certainty it's not something you would have chosen, but, I'm willing to negotiate my space. For now."

Kara brow furrowed in confusion as she chanced a step closer. "Arrangement? Cat what-"

"I know." Cat stated with a sharp edge looking Kara over.

"Know what?"

"Don't play coy _Keira_." 

Kara straightened with that. Cat hadn't called her that since she was promoted out of her assistant position. 

"I'm not playing at anything Cat. Games are supposed to be fun, not this. So whatever it is you think I'm doing or-"

"I expected it from everybody else-"

"Expected what Cat!?" This had escalated far too quickly for Kara's liking. Clearly the level of irritation and hurt from earlier and everything leading up to now had only made Cat's mood worse.

The pair were a few inches apart from one another, staring the other down until Cat dared to step closer. 

"The fourth question on the form you answered..." 

Kara tipped her head, trying to recall before looking back at Cat. "I put down anyone."

Cat blinked and straightened back. "What?"

Kara looked through the other woman, recalling the form in her minds eye before giving a bit of a nod here and there as she spoke again. "If you had to share a room with someone else who would you prefer. Yeah, I wrote down anyone, I didn't think it would be appropriate if I put down you and other people saw those forms-"

With Cat’s sudden shift in demeanor Kara rushed forward. 

"Or, or, or if I had put down anyone specific. I wasn't even considering you or Ms. Traver because, well, you're the CEO and she's the head of HR… I thought you two would be paired and I don't have any real issue with rooming with anyone else here, I guess, so... so I didn't-"

Cat put up her hand, halting Kara abruptly before taking a few steps back. 

"I don't know what I did but I-"

"Don't say you're sorry." Cat offered, shifting her jaw a bit. She was going to have one hell of a talk with Helen. When Cat had asked her on the plane about the rooming assignments this was not the answer or impression she had been given. Not in the slightest. 

"It was a misunderstanding, on my part." Cat shouldn't have cared, not really. When she thought a little more on the subject she realized it wasn't everybody else's avoidance of her but the implication that Kara was part of that as well through the proxy of being Cat's former assistant. "I… I apologize for assuming-"

"Accusing." 

"Pardon?"

"You accused me, _Miss Grant_ " Kara clarified. 

The formality of her name now struck the same blow using Kara's office moniker had and Cat knew why the other woman had used it immediately. 

"I'm going to check on everyone else," Kara offered, rubbing at the back of her neck. "You… might think about changing."

Cat gave a curt nod, not that Kara saw it, as the other woman had already turned and made her way out of their cabin. 

As Kara stepped out past the landing onto the first bridgeway she could see by the smoke wafting through the sky that the other cabin's occupants had the same idea she had. Get a fire started and get settled. If she and Cat had the largest abode, and only one bed, no doubt the others were in equally compromising situations. 

" _Did you see how hard she slammed the door?"_ Pip said while Hunter tucked their clothes away in a small side table. 

_"She rocked the whole van. I know Danvers is strong but throw in some catnip and she's a_ beast _."_

Kara sighed at the voices she overheard, trying to tune them out. 

" _Do you think it's just an elaborate gesture to win her back or something?"_ Orin from the opposite cabin questioned.

" _This seems a little extreme for that. Cat doesn't waste money. If this were just about Kara, I don't think she'd have the rest of us tagging along."_ Leon supplied. 

" _Maybe, I do know things were better at CatCo when they were together."_

Kara straightened up sharply at that comment. 

_"True enough, but did you actually read the forms we signed? I think Cat might be in trouble or something. Like that time with that lawyer asshole guy."_

Any shock Kara felt about the last comment was now tempered with the possibility of Cat being in trouble.

Orin made an exasperated noise. " _How would you even know that?"_

_"Marin said she overheard Helen explaining how Cat was the only one required to be here."_

Kara frowned listening to the two men talk. 

" _The steel trap let that slip? Bullshit."_

_"Not directly, Marin said she heard them talking when she was just outside the conference room today."_

_"That's not good."_

"Everything okay?"

Kara jumped at the sudden nearness of Helen's voice just behind her. 

"RaoBlessit! What? Uh, yes, I just I mean, Ca- Miss Grant wanted to change and I was going to check on everyone but I think they're okay." Kara offered in a rush, nodding towards the fires each of the houses had going. 

"I see," Helen edged up beside Kara, careful not to step too far forward despite the landings sturdiness. "I know it's a little awkward, the rooming situation, and to be honest I hadn't expected _this_ as the setting." 

Kara glanced around at the small bundle of treehouses that they were claiming. Thinking how amazing this would all be if it was just her and Cat before shifting her gaze elsewhere. 

"Seems a little… inappropriate. Even if we were staying at the lodge. I would have thought Cat would have her own space or would have roomed with you." Kara offered, if they were being honest. 

Kara's tone was unmistakable and Helen took note of it immediately. Perhaps there was more than just rumors between her and Cat.

"Yes well, there were specifics that needed to be taken care of and you having a room to yourself was not ideal."

Kara shook her head slightly, so Cat wasn't the only one no one else wanted to room with. "That's… telling."

"Just between you and me, it was the best option. Despite everyone else and their requests for roommates, you know her best, even beyond me at this point."

Kara straightened then, looking at Helen. "Great start to this whole team building thing, making Cat feel like the odd one out as if she wasn't already, given her position at CatCo."

"Kara it's not that black and white." 

"Well it sure seems that way, and she knows it."

"Kara-"

"It's fine," it wasn't but what Kara wanted to say wasn't proper either. "Just maybe reiterate that to everyone else or none of us are going to get through this weekend."

Cat lingered just inside the door, having caught the entire exchange between Helen and Kara and felt all the more unsettled for her earlier accusation. 

"I'm going to head down to the ground, make sure that water pump works or something."

Helen gave a sigh pinching at the bridge of her nose as Kara utilized the built in slider pole to get down over the ladder and landing options that had gotten them all up here. 

"What the hell have I gotten us into," Helen muttered as she watched Kara navigate the connected systems from the ground level. 

Luckily for Kara her x-ray vison was something she didn't have to make an excuse for in order to utilize it beyond adjusting her glasses or tipping her head. She tracked all the piping from each house noting that some pipes fed underground in large tanks while others were fed into by a hidden water reserve system. 

She also found what looked like a large generator that was connected to panels leading to each house and higher up. 

"Solar reserve…" she muttered to herself, taking note of how things were set up o. Case there was a problem. Not that she foresaw any but it would at least occupy her mind over everything else happening right now. 

Or so she thought until her phone buzzed on her pocket. She blinked and pulled the thing out, knowing cell reception was nearly impossible to get out here. 

"Hello?"

" _You survived."_ Alex's voice was static-y but solid enough to understand. 

"How the hell are you getting through?"

_"Winn put a booster in your cell, how else do you think we can reach you on comms when you're thousand's of feet in the air?"_

Kara had forgotten about that little upgrade, which meant she would be the only one with service. That could prove good or bad depending. 

" _So, how's it going? You all bonding yet?"_

Kara tucked herself further under the treehouses in case anyone was watching before letting out a deep breath.

"You're having way too much fun with this."  
  
" _It's a corporate retreat Kara."_  
  
Kara glanced up again, seeing Cat emerge from the cabin looking like something out of a Duluth Trading catalog. "Sweet Rao kill me now..."

" _Seriously? How bad can it be?"_

"Are you sitting down?"  
  
  



	7. Chapter 7

The remainder of the day had come and gone relatively quickly, too quickly for Kara's liking to be honest. 

After about an hour of idling about along the grounds someone had piped up about food. So over the course of the remaining sunlight afforded to them, the group had somehow come together enough to piece meal bits of their own food stores into a decent meal. 

Everyone had their own set of skills. Whether it was having worked at CatCo, where efficiency was key and deadlines were often, or the underlying want to have this whole thing over and done with, the group had managed without much fanfare. 

Of course beyond a few one worded replies there wasn't much communication on the matter of it all either. Which really made Kara wonder if what she had heard earlier held more truth than rumor. That Cat was indeed in some kind of trouble with the board again and this was all a ruse for some other intention. 

Cat had kept to herself mostly, as she would have at the office. Overseeing but not actively participating. When she had thought to try, she noted how much more tense the others got around her. At the office this wouldn't be a bad thing, away from it, however, was another situation entirely. If not the very reason they were all here. 

Helen's presence wasn't much better but it was more accepted, again most likely because of her position. For the others it was a gradual warming to Helen versus Cat, who seemed to make people nervous or anxious as if they were being observed for some kind of performance review. 

Even Kara was not immune, but for an entirely different reason. Cat made her tense in a whole manner of different ways. None of which were because of her position so much as the positions that Kara kept invisioning with Cat in her head. 

The fact they were sharing a room, so to speak, and that there was only one bed didn't help. Kara was prone to snuggling, she snuggled pillows and blankets and even Alex when she stayed over sometimes. Now, the later it got, the reality of that one bed with the two of them in it, grew more and more daunting. 

"So… if I might ask," Hunter piped up after they had all lapsed into an awkward but tempered silence. "What exactly can we expect tomorrow?"

All eyes went from Hunter to Cat. 

_ 'All the more reason to have Helen along.'  _ Cat thought to herself. 

"I don't rightly know." She answered honestly, watching the exchange of glances and unspoken conversations make their way around the circle. 

"I thought this was your retreat?" Marin cautioned before shrinking back a bit when Cat looked at her. 

Cat shook her head slowly, giving a faint smile that Kara couldn't place in intention before Cat leaned back in her folding chair. "It's CatCo's certainly, but Helen might be more equipped to answer that, as I am just as much in the dark about it as the rest of you."

The others looked between themselves again, speaking in a language Cat knew well enough from her time at the Planet. It was that unspoken knowing between lower level employees when management was involved with something or the company as a whole was in some kind of turmoil. 

Helen cut a glance toward Cat as the others looked at her before pulling in a deep breath. "It's part of the new regulations the state has put out." 

Seeing the confused looks Helen continued. "There are certain requirements and regulations that the state puts out concerning the workplace and its environment in relation to the well being of its employees. Which also sets a company at a certain level or rank against other similar businesses. The state takes these rankings and based on size, structure and other factors determines if said company is over or under performing and recommends changes."

"Or fines and restructuring." Cat added, pulling focus once more. 

Helen winced slightly with the addition. That option hadn't been presented to her until just before they left. Which may have been another reason Cat had pulled her into this venture. A couple members of the board had done some prodding of their own and in doing had garnered the attention of a few sharks willing to buy their board shares. 

"So we're some kind of test for you? So what so the board can push you out or something?" 

The others looked at Kara as if she had lost her mind when she spoke up suddenly. Including Helen, while Cat remained impassive. 

"Something like that." Cat answers plainly, again seeing the visual exchange while a different tension swirled in the air between them all. 

The board could smell blood in the water. That much was evident with the impromptu meeting Cat had been called into. As majority shareholder, and owner, she had her own kinds of safety nets in place but the few members who had wanted to side with Dirk a couple years back seemed just as eager now as they did then to either be rid of her or make it next to impossible to run CatCo the way she intended.

Someone younger, eager, and easy to manipulate for themselves instead of giving up their seats seemed more viable than constantly being out voted. This was an opportunity to capitalize on that, especially if the state determined CatCo required restructuring. The publicity alone would provide enough doubt in their public shares to prompt such action alone. 

"I don't understand why though?" Orin asked, feeling emboldened by Kara. "Wouldn't that mean they'd be out too? If CatCo were restructured?"

Helen and Cat exchanged a look while the others stared at them. 

"Money is an interesting motivator. Some of the board have backed me for years while others are not so… loyal to the company and its intention. They want more control after sitting in the shadows I suppose. They also know I've been offered another position elsewhere and probably want the bigger say so in my successor."

"Successor?!" Kara blurted, making Leon jump as her voice nearly echoed. "You're leaving?" 

The others glanced over at Kara then Cat, that same tension from before swirling into the air. 

Cat studied Kara very carefully while Helen quietly cleared her throat and checked her nails. 

"I didn't say that." Cat wasn't sure why she was saying any of this really. Beyond just getting it out there she couldn't determine why she was so candid, perhaps she  _ was _ losing her edge. 

"But it's a possibility?" Kara pushed before Leon nudged her gently. 

Cat watched the exchange along with Kara's unwavering stare. "Anything is possible. It is also very possible I've done all I can do after this long."

" _ That _ is infuriating, and passive and you know it."

Marin looked to Pip who shrugged faintly while the others tried to make themselves invisible. This felt private and invasive in an instant and almost as if it had nothing to do with CatCo.

Cat drew in a measured breath, her gaze leveled on Kara while the others phased out of her eyeline. 

"It is what it is Kara. This business is changing. The culture, corporate structure, the way the world consumes media, it's not like it was when I built all this and it won't be five or ten years from now. I'm not opposed to change but I am opposed to giving up the integrity of CatCo as I've intended it. If I step away I can still have that." 

Kara stood then while the others shrank further into their chairs. "Step away? It's still your name and your brand... you would still own it all-"

"And someone else can be the face and take the blame for everything, if it comes to that." Cat interrupted as Kara looked at her over the dying campfire. 

Kara straightened back, as if only now realizing that they had an audience. Her head dropped with a tight smile, as if she were willing the earth to swallow her whole before she nodded and stepped away. 

"Lovely," Helen muttered watching Kara's form starting to merge with their surroundings. "Please don't go far!" She wasn't sure their insurance covered random acts of nature. Stubborn or not. 

"I'll be fine." Kara answered back. 

The others looked between themselves once more, none of them daring to make a move as Cat stared at the vacancy Kara's seat now held. She shifted her jaw visibly before drawing nn a slow breath. She knew better than anyone Kara would indeed be fine. What with being Supergirl, anything the surrounding woods might have in store for her would be child's play by comparison to what she was used to back in National City. 

"See that the fire gets put out properly." Cat stated, not looking at the others as she stood. "I'm turning in." 

There was a quiet murmur of acknowledgment as Cat made her way up the initial ramp before navigating the rope and wooden ladder and bridgeways. 

Helen gave a sigh, swearing to the heavens before standing. "I'm going to find Kara. The rest of you stay put."

The others agreed, again with a murmured round if yes's until Helen and Cat were both out of earshot. 

"Guys we have got to do something." Pip stated, edging closer to the rest. 

"Like what? This might all be for nothing. You heard her she might be leaving." Orin stated with a hushed tone. 

"Restructuring also means downsizing, which means one way or another we may all be on the shortlist." Marin said looking to the others.

"This is bullshit. Those board members can fuck right off, I know a lot of people might disagree but I'd walk through hell for Cat." Hunter said with absolute conviction. 

"Same." Leon added, "She's the only one who's given me a chance. We have to make this work."

"Then we have got to get those two back together somehow." Pip said, "They were better before and I dunno what happened but clearly there is some unfinished business between them. Did you see how upset Kara got?"

"Hard to miss," Marin offered. "she was just as blindsided, I thought she knew everything."

"You don't think Cat's really considering it do you? Leaving?" Leon asked

Orin shook his head. "Maybe, maybe she's doing that you're better off without me thing, trying to be all chivalrous and whatnot for Kara?" 

"There's more to it ,has to be, maybe the board found out about them and this is an ultimatum?" Pip questioned looking to the others. "Whatever it is, we've got to try and fix it. We owe them both that much."

  
  
  
  
  



	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the delay in all the things, sick animals, sick people and busy busy work make for little time to be creative 😉
> 
> Enjoy

Cat drew in a deep breath as she circled around the small space of her and Kara's wouldbe home for the next few days. She cast a small glance towards the bedroom thinking Kara would more than likely sleep on the floor after that display down below. 

And what a display. 

Cat knew Kara was protective of her, if that was the way to put it but seeing it first hand especially towards Cat's own intangible choices had been an all new experience for the executive. 

She had touched on that when Kara was wearing a cape but nothing like this. This wasn't an act of protective heroism, this was its own kind of declaration; but of what Cat couldn't be altogether sure. Not without asking Kara directly and Cat wasn't sure she was ready for that just yet. Or if Kara would even have an answer to be honest. 

Cat settled into a nearby chair, looking towards the door. Her mind drifting towards the others, no doubt wishing they were anywhere but here. As random as it may have seemed, each of them had been on her list, along with plenty more and for good reason. Even if all of those reasons were self satisfying in their own way to her. 

Where most saw a loud and eccentric individual seemingly well suited for CatCo's art department when it came to Pip, Cat had seen him as the quiet advocate he was. Strong willed and rife with conviction. His place here had been an easy one to fill. 

Cat smirked faintly with the recall of offering him his current position. She hadn't bothered with his portfolio or references, instead she had relied on his work concerning prop 8 and equal rights in the workplace for his chosen community and family. All of it voluntary, after reading about the loss of his husband and the fight he had endured in order to keep the building blocks of their life before it as a part of his own, his interview had been a matter of required formality for CatCo. 

It had paved the way for Hunter, before Cat had known them as Hunter. The marketing assistant had blossomed under CatCo especially when they had laid the groundwork for Cat to push co-ed bathrooms and other clauses involving insurance and proper therapies for individuals who were less than comfortable in their given bodies. Providing a safe and positive environment within CatCo for those kinds of transitions and others. 

It had set CatCo apart from other businesses early on, as accepted as it was becoming now, it had been something kept under the table at the time and Cat was having none of it. Cat had even paid for the final twenty percent CatCo's former insurance carrier refused concerning their reassignment surgery. Again setting up the groundwork for others with CatCo's health grant system she had enstated thereafter.

With Orin, she had granted him a paid leave of absence after the death of his father and only remaining family. Along with all the funeral costs before sending her own personal attorney to oversee all legalities to ensure he was taken care of thereafter. At the time it had been a reminder of her own similar situation when her father had passed shortly after she started at The Planet. 

There had been nothing in place for her then. Barely a consideration beyond Perry's willingness to offer her a four day leave. While her father hadn't been her only remaining family, he had been her whole world and her mother was less than supportive. CatCo's policies weren't entirely lacking but they could have been better and Cat had made sure they were. 

That comparison of herself and seeing her situation reflected in others had made her take a closer look at her employees overall and CatCo as a whole. 

It was what made Leon one of her personal favorites. She had offered him a job when other places similar to CatCo had required more experience and education. Even for a mailroom position. Something she found practically abhorrent at the time. It had forced her to take a more hands on overview of her hiring managers and position requirements across her company. 

With the heavy shift to digital mediums, the actual physicality of a mailroom job was menial at best and yet somewhere it had been determined one needed a Harvard education to even get a foot in the door. 

One manager gone and her policies revised, Cat had enrolled Leon in continuing education classes under the guise of some kind of lottery like scholarship for her employees across the company. Two years later and Cat still had his GED completion certification the instructor had copied for her upon Leon's receipt of it in her top drawer. She had even been present at his graduation ceremony, albeit secretly, when he sought out his associate's degree in logistics a few months ago.

All manner of tokens and reminders were hidden in that drawer, and others. Including the first class at CatCo's Upstart Center. 

It reminded her of when both her boys were little and her struggles to manage them and work. With Adam it had cost her more than she cared to admit. With Carter, he had practically grown up in her office at the beginning, but only because she was the owner. 

Cat had instigated a more involved daycare center with a built in learning annex for Marin when she had unexpectedly taken in her sister's young daughter. It had gone further, along with a better work at home program for parents or expectant individuals even after that situation had changed just this past year when the woman's sister had been declared cancer free and she could actually be a mother again. 

And then there was Kara, and her ultimate secret as Supergirl. Cat couldn't count the number of times she had pushed in both the right and wrong ways on that front. Kara had changed her far more than the others had. In fact, it was because of that change Cat was even entertaining the idea Olivia had presented her. CatCo was a means to deliver change that had already happened to the world. With Olivia, she could be a direct part of that change. 

Even a year ago she wouldn't have hesitated to say no, but now it seemed almost ridiculous not to at least consider it. 

The door opened then and Cat startled. Instantly pulled from her thoughts as Kara edged her way inside while bidding a quiet goodnight to Helen just beyond. 

Cat barely moved, settled in the edge of her chair as Kara came to an abrupt stop when she realized Cat was less than a foot away from her. 

The two lingered in the silence stretching out between them before running over one another. 

"Cat, I'm sorry about what I said earlier."

"Not that I should apologize, but I didn't intend to upset you, Kara." 

Kara shook her head, backing up a step as Cat stood and came into her space. 

"I didn't, I shouldn't have behaved-"

"Kara, stop." 

Kara went silent, eyeing the other woman. 

"You have every right to your opinions and feelings. They are valid things even when they concern other people." Cat stated, watching Kara carefully. "Your method of delivery and consideration for your surroundings needs a little work but so does mine."

Kara drew in a slow breath, the muscles of her jaw working visibly before she sidestepped Cat and put more distance between them. 

"It was… inappropriate of me." Kara answered after another minute. "It caught me off guard and not unlike you, I'm not a fan of big surprises that require a lot of change." 

That was fair enough, Cat mused. Change one sought out was one thing, change that was unexpectedly forced on someone was another. Cat just hadn't figured it would be that kind of change for Kara. Or anyone else for that matter, especially after everything that had happened today. Each little nudge and prod towards Cat saying yes based on the others in her company. 

Until now. 

"I'll sleep on the floor if that makes it-"

"It would make it worse." Cat interjected honestly. She knew she would be up most of the night anyway, but if Kara were sequestered to the floor of the main room she wouldn't get any sleep at all. 

Kara turned back to face her with that, her brow furrowed in confusion. 

"For one it's already getting colder and loathe as I am to admit it, I'm hoping you'll act like a small furnace." 

Kara's mouth quirked up slightly with that. 

"Two, it feels like a punishment for speaking your mind. Again, not the way I would have initially wanted it, but I'm not going to punish you for that and I won't sit idly by and allow you to do it to yourself either."

Kara studied Cat openly, her chest tightening as the other woman allowed her to do so without comment. 

Kara straightened slightly as Cat stepped closer after another series of heartbeats, holding her gaze for a long moment before drawing a deeper breath. 

"Don't make me remind you how astonishing you are."

Kara swallowed hard as Cat lingered a little too long with her comment drifting between them on each breath. 

Cat wavered closer, enough to make Kara's breath catch before Cat seemed to catch herself and drift away. 

Kara watched after her, unsure of what to do or what exactly that was beyond feeling she had missed something vital. Then the sound of Cat's boots thumping along the floor Kara snapped back into her own body. The feeling of the ground sobering as she realized she had been floating. 

Cat gathered a small set of clothes and turned before nodding towards the small sitting area. "I can change over there so you can-"

"You're fine, I mean it's fine I can just…" Kara never wanted to change clothes so fast in her life. "My bag's on the other side of the bed if I can just…"

Cat stepped aside enough for Kara to ease past, their bodies barely brushing. Kara cursed her gods while praising them at the same time for ensuring Cat couldn't see her face or how red her skin felt along her throat. 

Kara tried to will herself to calm down pulling her sleep clothes from her bag, and as she turned she felt her heart completely stop as plains of exposed skin were laid out for her. 

Cat stood in profile, sans shirt and her fingers were already working at the button of her pants. Kara nearly choked before turning aside, putting her back to Cat as she toed out of her shoes and made quick work of changing. Careful not to use her superspeed as much as she might have wanted to. 

Cat glanced up after another minute, her gaze sweeping across Kara's exposed back and the contours of muscle that flexed and moved with Kara's hasty motions. 

With a faint curse Cat averted her eyes, making a note to ask where exactly Kara got her clothes from. Marveling at how well they hid all that, layered or not. 

Kara tugged her shirt the rest of the way down, her movements slower now with the quiet swearing on Cat's behalf. 

"Which side do you sleep on?" Cat asked just as Kara turned around, watching the other woman pull the bed clothes free. 

"This one's fine." Kara stated, pulling her side free before slipping in without much fanfare. She shifted enough to get comfortable, not wanting to cause a fuss before prying off her glasses and setting them in the nightstand. 

Cat eased into the bed, watching as Kara switched off her lamp and curled towards the far edge with her back to the other woman. Cat took a slow breath inward, feeling the tension from earlier creeping back in as she scooted further down and turned off her lamp, leaving them to the dark. 

Kara stared at the wall, ears transfixed on Cat's heartbeat and breathing, knowing she was in for a long night. Those steady rhythms could easily put her to sleep and the last thing she wanted to do was have Cat find her hovering above the bed by sunrise. 

Seconds stretched on into minutes and longer but the rhythm never slowed, in fact Kara thought Cat's heartbeat actually quickened. 

"Can you…" 

Kara turned slightly, barely able to see Cat over her shoulder. 

"Nevermind."

Kara frowned, turning further, thankful for the darkness surrounding them now that she was without her glasses. Even if she could see just fine she was grateful Cat couldn't. "What?"

"Nothing." 

The reserved nature of Cat's tone made Kara turn completely onto her back. 

"Tell me." She whispered with a soothing undertone. Whatever it was made the hairs on the back of Kara's neck prick to attention. Cat was on her side, searching the dark between them, expression completely open and unguarded. Her aura swirling brilliantly in the darkness around them. 

Cat let out a deep sigh, fingers toying with the comforter as she shifted a bit, edging closer to Kara. 

"If you're not comfortable on that side, we could switch." 

Kara's brow furrowed before she scooted enough to turn towards Cat a bit more. 

"So your back isn't…"

The realization of what Cat was implying smacked Kara right in the face. Cat didn't want Kara's back to face her, or at least that's what it seemed. It might not have made much sense to most anyone else but for someone who had been married and divorced four times with the common thread of each of them disconnecting from her it made perfect sense to Kara. 

"I'm good on either side." Kara allowed, watching Cat before closing her eyes. It wasn't fair to see so much when Cat was clearly struggling to read Kara's own features in the dark. "I… just didn't want to make you uncomfortable if I moved closer or something while I was asleep."

Cat swallowed thickly, having expected Kara to ask for some kind of reason or explanation. "Are you saying you're a snuggler?" 

Kara laughed breathlessly, shifting even more until she was on her side facing Cat, eyes still closed. 

"I'm… used to sleeping alone, surrounded by pillows," Kara admitted with a serious note. "My sister, Alex, has made mention of having to extract herself from me sometimes."

Cat smirked to herself, curling the covers up a little tighter as her eyes began to adjust and she could just make out Kara's features. Her chest twinging with an odd vibration as she noted Kara's eyes were closed. 

It had been a while since she had anyone in a bed with her beyond Carter, and even that had been a rarity since he was about eight. Given the current situation, there were less desirable options easily available to her, none of which would understand her apprehensive request. Then again she doubted anyone else out here with them would even consider sharing a cabin with her much less the same bed. 

"What're you doing?" 

Kara's barely there whisper brought Cat back into herself and the realization that she had reached over. Her fingertips just brushing Kara's cheek. 

"Try-trying to figure out where you were," Cat whispered all too quickly. "So I wouldn't elbow you in the face if I moved." 

"Oh."

Cat was instantly amazed at how much a simple, single syllable word could seem so crestfallen. She tucked her bottom lip between her teeth for just a moment, allowing her fingertips to linger just a little longer against the warmth of Kara's skin before drawing them away. 

"We should get some sleep." What little she would find at this rate. Already the warmth of Kara's body nearby, pushing down on the bed made her want to move closer. Cat was not a snuggler by any means, but the idea of Kara wrapping her up refused to vacate her mind. 

Kara's eyes opened slowly, searching over Cat's features knowing the other woman could see her enough now. Her heart beat against her ribs and she curled her hands tighter against her own body to keep from reaching out. She thanked Rao that she didn't need sleep, not in the same way humans did, as it would be ever so elusive to her now. 

"Okay…" Kara drew in a slow breath, watching Cat turn over onto her back and seeming to settle in. Her body growing even more tense as she felt the weight of Cat's arm lay out between them. She closed her eyes again, uncurling her hand and letting her fingers smooth across the mattress no more than a breath away from Cat's own. This was one of those scenarios she had told Alex about but it was nothing like how she had figured it would be and there were still three more nights that would find them here.

"Goodnight, Kara." 

"Goodnight, Cat." 


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God life is so invasive sometimes 
> 
> Apologies for the hiatus the world got busy and apparently required my attention full time.
> 
> \-------
> 
> And omg thank you @sultrysweet for the edits.... No beta is no good!

Kara drew in a slow breath, the gentle pressure around her waist registering enough to bring her back down into the depths of the mattress instead of the inch or two she had begun to hover above it. The haze of sleep clung to her like a dense fog over an open meadow. Drawing her back into the depths of safe, warm comfort. 

She shifted closer to that warmth, fingers sliding through soft strands of hair as she nuzzled down just a touch before her body instantly froze. Kara swore even her heart came to a standstill as the full length of one Cat Grant drew closer with a faint, sleep-addled hum. With a sudden spasm, Kara's lungs were forced back into operation in the next instant. Leaving her chest throbbing with a dull ache while her body tensed even more at the provocative slide of Cat's leg against her own.

Whatever murmured words Cat pressed against her shoulder, Kara barely registered them and instead cleared her throat too loudly to be considered anything but purposeful. Cat's whole body tensed with a quiet snort, her head drawing back followed by her arm as she was ungracefully thrown into wakefulness. Another, more audible, intake of air drew her body further away as she pushed up, fighting the urge to just curl right back up against Kara's body and go back to sleep. 

"Morning."

Kara fought against the rise of whatever inhuman sound that Cat's voice just this side of awake conjured in her. It was deep and rich, roughened by sleep and completely unguarded. How many times had Kara wished to be on the receiving end of that kind of tone and vulnerability, only to realize how lacking her imagination on the subject matter had been. 

Kara reached over nonchalantly, affixing her glasses on her face like some kind of armor. Her eyes tracked Cat’s sleep riddled form as she stretched and urged herself into a more wakeful state. 

"Mor-morning…" 

Cat eyed her momentarily with the stutter before stretching out completely and Kara had to force herself to look away as the other woman’s body strained against her nightclothes along the bed. 

By the time Cat relaxed, Kara was already up and out of bed fumbling through her bag. She studied the other woman and her haphazard movements before getting up herself. 

"Are you going to-"

"You can have the shower, I was going to make coffee." 

Kara's rushed itinerary of their morning made Cat hesitate in her motion of pulling at the sheets. 

"I was going to say, help make the bed."

Kara turned, eyeing the other woman and her resumed action of straightening up the sheets. She stood without motion or word for a good ten count before easing her clothes on to a nearby chair. 

Cat kept her expression as neutral as she could manage while Kara met her halfway with the sheets until the both of them could equally make the bed together. While Kara rearranged the pillows, Cat grabbed a smaller bag and made her way to the bathroom. 

Once the door was shut, Kara let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding; grateful the shower she would have would undoubtedly be ice cold. 

"Get a hold of yourself…" Kara muttered, tugging her nightclothes off, having decided that her shower could wait as the idea of being naked and vulnerable a few short feet away from Cat was too much to process. 

Instead, she tidied up their space, reminding herself she wasn't at home and this was not some secret, wistful excursion for her and Cat. They were technically on the clock and one day closer to the end of this retreat still felt too long. 

Kara rekindled the fire in the main room, moving one of the covers from the upper burners to set a kettle to warm for coffee.

Across the other cabins, the scene was the same overall, one person opting for the daily shower while the other set about getting dressed or prepping for the day ahead. 

All the makings of a PBS nature special, nestled within the majestic reach of the surrounding woodland, the serenity of it all was suddenly shattered by the loud honk of a horn that echoed like a mooring cruise ship in the morning quiet. 

Kara had just filled a mug with coffee when Cat emerged fresh faced and ready for the day. Out of habit, Kara handed the mug off to Cat’s waiting hands only to catch the thing outright at the disruption when Cat startled.

"What in the-"

" _GOOD MORNING CATCO_!" 

The amplified tone of their would-be team building supervisor echoed out from the van. 

Cat and Kara were quick to emerge, joining a few of the others on the wooden overlook, in who were all in various stages of dress. 

After a few moments, a woman stepped out from the van and made her way around to the sliding door. 

"This meal isn't going to serve itself. I need everyone who's capable down here and ready. You've got thirty minutes before I pack it up, fed or not."

"You have got to be kidding me." Helen muttered, shrugging into a down vest to ward off the chill of their surroundings. 

"I thought this was team building not boot camp." Orin stated before the feedback of the bull horn on the van scattered a nearby flock of birds. 

"Twenty-nine minutes…" 

The group eyed one another before ducking back into their respective cabins in a rush to get dressed for the day. 

Kara navigated around Cat as expertly as ever, passing off things to her like a belt, socks and boots while Cat finished her coffee and traded her mug off for the items offered to her. 

Not bothering with another mug, Kara poured herself her own half cup of coffee while Cat used her as a brace to pull on her socks. Without thinking, Kara downed the liquid, scalding hot as it was, before leaning around to grab a vest for herself as a means to keep up appearances. 

Cat let the slip in Kara's facade slide with the call of twenty-five minutes. She turned on a dime, fastening her belt before Kara fit a thin jacket over her arms for her to shrug into only to duck down out of sight after moving around Cat's body.

For a split second Cat was off balance before the wrap of Kara's hand secured her from around her calf. With a glance down, the woman watched as Kara pulled at the laces of her one remaining untied boot with one hand. 

Kara waited until Cat felt stable before letting her leg go, focused on tightening Cat's boot like it was second nature. The realization of her own actions were lost on her, but they were certainly not lost on Cat. 

So much so that Cat had to restrain herself from reaching for Kara's head to keep her newly regained balance, her mind pitching into a whole other scenario that made Cat suddenly drop to one knee. 

"I've got it." She stated, her voice clipped and a little wobbly as Kara sat back, suddenly unsure of what she had done wrong. 

"I… was just-"

"You're still barefoot," Cat murmured, keeping her focus on her boot, praying the flush of her cheeks would be mistaken for her position versus what had actually caused her skin to redden. 

"Oh..oh!" Kara rolled away, moving to the other room. With the sudden rush to get moving thanks to the arrival of their team builder, Kara had neglected to actually finish getting dressed herself in favor of helping Cat.

A few seconds later, Kara was practically bouncing back in as she tugged on one boot then the other. Just as she was about to go down, Cat's hands were tangled in her laces, allowing Kara's mind to catch up with itself. 

Her eyes were wide when Cat stood, the pair of them a short distance from one another, just like the night before. Both a little flushed and flustered, breathing slightly elevated at the dance they had been doing in order to get ready. 

Cat made the first move, fingers fitting around the collar of Kara's vest to pull it straight with a slight tug. Kara's lips parted, her legs urging her forward as Cat drew in an anticipatory breath. 

" _TWENTY MINUTES_."

"Cronkite's ghost, is she serious?!" 

Another moment slipped away as Cat looked toward the noise and Kara swore her heart was halfway across the room from the interruption. 

"We..should-"

"She'll be lucky if I don't shove that speaker somewhere unpleasant," Cat uttered moving for the door.

"She might actually be the kind of person who likes that, given her entrance."

Cat nearly tripped over herself, the sound that escaped her unusual, not only in its genuine amusement but for whom it was directed toward and why. 

Kara rose a high brow before Cat gestured for Kara to lead the way. "That was practically poetry." 

Kara grinned, mostly to herself as she slipped out, taking the time to ensure Cat didn't slip or misstep as they made their way down to the small common space below. 

"First two down… you might actually get to enjoy your food."

Cat started forward towards the teambuilder only to have Kara nudge her towards the waiting spread inside the van. 

Hot pans of food rose up to meet them, along with a smaller variety of fruit, nuts and what looked like power bars. It had all the makings of a breakfast buffet and Kara was all for it. 

Orin and Leon emerged from their cabins, headed for the ground just as Kara was about to grab a plate, until Cat grabbed her arm gently to stop her. 

"What?"

"FIFTEEN MINUTES!"

"This whole thing is about team building… if the rest aren't out in five they won't have time to get food at all."

Kara glanced up, looking to the other cabins before looking back to Cat. "First two down, last two to eat, yes?"

Cat rose a brow, eyeing Kara a moment before a plate was set in either hand. 

"Just make space to put them somewhere."

Leon made it down first and, as he approached the van, he was handed a pair of plates piled with food from Cat.

"Don't move. Just pass it along and wait."

"Uh..okay?"

Orin followed suit, balancing platefuls of food as Kara continued to fill them until the four of them stood waiting for the rest of the group. 

"TIME!"

Marin had just stepped off the pole landing with the call, her features crestfallen as she started forward. 

"Looks like you're packing it up."

Cat made a harsh sound of clearing her throat, causing their team coach to turn. 

"Actually, it looks like you're packing it up." Cat allowed, offering Marin a full plate as the others stood with their own in hand. "We'll be over there enjoying your work ethic."

The group looked between them with stifled smirks, each making their way to the chairs left out from last night on Cat's lead. 

"Now _that_ , was poetry" Kara murmured with a slight lean towards Cat before taking her seat and pulling her legs up into her chair in order to enjoy her food with the rest of the group. 

  
  
  
  
  
  



	10. Chapter 10

“I did not sign up for this…” Pip muttered, trudging through the surrounding woodland, listening as best he could to the directions Helen was giving behind him. 

“Don’t complain or we’ll have to start again.” Orin responded with a course whisper before the rope at his waist pulled left. 

“Almost there, I promise everyone. Just go slow and steady.” Helen offered from the back. She was the only one not blindfolded, tasked with giving directions to the rest of the group who were looped at the waist by a large rope. 

“Quarter mile and you’re home free. Helen, you’re doing great. Chatter in the middle is throwing off some of the rest though.” Their facilitator, Ronnie, commented, while staying just to the right of the human daisy chain being led by Kara.

After breakfast and initial introductions, the first set of trust building activities had begun; each one seemingly more complicated than the last.

Ronnie’s tactic was simple enough; or at least as far as Cat had determined. Edge out the leaders from the followers, push each other’s comfort zones and boundaries until they all eventually coalesced together as a team. Were they just a single department on a relatively even playing field that might have worked. The fact there were two executive level employees didn’t, nor did the fact that the others varied so wildly across position and department within CatCo itself.

They were all aware of the unspoken hierarchy surrounding each department in a place as large as CatCo. The higher the floor, the higher the pay; and the stakes to be fair, as far as job security went. Cat had attempted to level those discrepancies out, but different jobs and skills sets called for different requirements and salaries. It wasn’t unexpected, given their global standing; she just hadn’t thought it to rise so vehemently with this group. 

Attitudes and entitlements, some beyond her employees job positions, had flared and gradually a kind of ‘us versus them’ undercurrent had developed. Which was why they found themselves tangled together randomly, blind and stumbling through the woods in the late hours of the afternoon.

As Cat set a hand on Leon’s back to steady herself, she felt the man tense and caught herself wishing she was behind Kara instead of smack in the middle. Ronnie had put Kara ahead of everyone, after the younger woman had attempted to step in with the group’s irritation at one another as a kind of mediator. 

Even without the cape, Kara couldn’t help herself. To a degree the others had listened to her, Cat noted, until an underhanded comment about being something akin to the golden child brought the facilitator in. 

The hurt she had seen flicker across Kara’s eyes had struck a deep chord in Cat. One she was well aware of to be sure, but had never really risen to the occasion beyond defending Kara to her own mother or to a wayward ex-employee or two turned psychopath. 

It had taken every shred of will not to step in herself, knowing that the reason for the comment stemmed from Kara’s prior position as Cat’s assistant. It wasn't genuinely directed at Kara so much as it was to Cat.

With that, Ronnie had them draw lots for position only after deciding Helen would navigate and Kara would lead. 

At the head of their chain, Kara kept a firm hold of the rope in her grasp. While she wasn’t trying to cheat, with her glasses tucked securely in her vest pocket, the blindfold she wore was certainly not lead-lined. 

Despite listening to Helen’s directions, after the third restart of this particular exercise, Kara had made her own miniscule corrections for the ease of the group’s navigation. Careful not to let on that she could see where they were all going regardless.

“About fifteen more feet at this angle and we’re clear.” Helen offered, reminding herself of how many vacation days she had coming and how not even Cat could argue her out of them. 

“Bout time…” Pip commented, carefully walking behind Marin. 

“You’re half the reason we’re doing this, just focus.” 

“You’ve all come _so far_ , I’d hate to have to start over… again.” Ronnie warned before anyone else could offer a response. 

“Just a few more feet, Kara you’re already in the clear, just keep walking.” Helen said with a clipped tone in an attempt to rein the frustrated others in a little more.

With that revelation, Kara pulled her blindfold off, shoving her glasses back into place before turning around and walking backwards a step or two, careful not to twist or pull the rope to unseat the others. 

“Excellent,” Ronnie said, watching as Kara pulled the rope at the same pace she had been walking before tapping Orin’s shoulder once he was clear. 

Orin pulled his blindfold off, blinking into the light before following Kara’s example of guiding the next person ahead. 

One by one they made it through before turning their attention to the facilitator. They were about a mile from their campsite, in the middle of a clearing with little else but tall grass and what sounded like a stream somewhere nearby. 

“Not bad, rough start but could have been worse. You might not have finished at all.”

“I thought you were supposed to be encouraging?” Kara questioned, as the others looked on. 

Ronnie smirked, giving a small nod. “Fair point, but one thing I’ve learned from watching all of you, snark and sarcasm seem to go a lot farther in the moment than verbal accolades.”

Cat shifted her jaw visibly at that while Kara gave a small shake of her head. 

“Nothing wrong with that method in the slightest. Especially when it’s done right,” she glanced at Cat, who raised her chin with the unspoken acknowledgement. “Which surprisingly, seems to be the case here. It makes for a more intense work environment, one that is highly rewarding in the long run, while also promoting self reliance. Which, as we saw earlier, leads to more prominent personas and self-assertion.” 

The others in the group glanced between themselves, their behaviors from earlier coming into a more well rounded understanding. 

“Again, these aren’t bad qualities, the inability to get out of one’s own way or allow others to contribute, or even ask for help, just proves a little harder to achieve effectively.”

“So what now?” Hunter asked and the smile from Ronnie that greeted them set the others on edge. 

“Now we pair up,” Ronnie grabbed for the rope, coiling it up and over her shoulder. “With whoever you’re bunking with.”

The group shifted and moved, each set of cabin-mates pairing up as Ronnie studied each couple. 

“You, you, you, and you… will put your blindfolds back on shortly.” 

Kara, Pip, Helen, and Orin all looked between themselves or at their partners with the directive. 

“Are we going back blind again?” Pip asked with an edge of reluctance.

“Not yet.” Ronnie looked out across the clearing before turning back to the group. “Those of you who aren’t blindfolded, you will take your partner's hand and lead them across the clearing.”

“I thought we just did that as a team?” Marin asked, looking at Helen. 

“You will lead them,” Ronnie continued sternly. “At first, from a gentle walk to a short, fast run.” Ronnie waited another beat as the others looked confused. “Without saying a word.” 

“Say what now?” 

Kara glanced at Orin and his outburst before looking over at Cat as the woman set her hands on her hips to listen. 

“Not all communication is verbal, a great team knows how to work together on instinct. An instinct that others within the group can trust.”

Cat cast a glance at Helen, who merely flexed her jaw with a knowing look back before turning her gaze away. Helen was in so much trouble when they got back to CatCo. 

“Leon, you’re up.”

Orin looked at his partner before giving a small shake of his head as he secured his blindfold. 

“Be aware of your partner and yourself.” Ronnie stated as she backed up and away from the group. “When I say go, you’ll start towards me. Leon, you two first, then Hunter, Marin and finally Cat.” 

“Not a runner,” Orin warned as he held out his hand waiting until Leon took it. Leon moved around in front of him, setting Orin’s stance a little wider before moving back to his side. 

“Go!”

Leon gave a single tug, and Orin complied while the rest watched. Their pace was gradual enough, but as Leon sped up, it was clear he was pulling Orin along instead of properly guiding him. 

As they started to run, Orin was tripped up causing Helen to hold her breath as she waited for him to go down. Leon pulled up hard, grabbing Orin’s upper arm to help his partner maintain his balance but the overall awkwardness of the situation caused both of them to stumble by the time they reached Ronnie. 

Cat cast another sharp glance at Helen, who promptly ignored her as they waited for the two men to get back up.

“That sucked,” Orin replied, pulling down his blindfold while Leon apologized. “You’re stronger than I thought.”

Ronnie had been about to step in, believing the flare up of egos from earlier was about to rear its head again until she heard the obscure comment of gratitude. 

“Swore I was gonna face plant on that last bit.” Orin stated as he helped Leon up from the ground with the edge of a smile.

“Should have slowed up a bit. I-.” 

“We made it, and not because of me. It's all good.”

Ronnie turned back to the others then, her smirk remaining. “I never said the rest of you couldn’t talk. Next up!”

Hunter looked over at Pip who gave a small shrug before pulling on his blindfold. 

“Just don’t think Pip!” Leon shouted with a chuckle from Orin. “Just start moving and keep up!”

“Go!”

The next pair headed across the way, and as Hunter ran, Marin gave a small cheer which signalled Pip to pick it up and try to maintain pace Hunter’s pace.

“Good job, not the photo finish of the last two but you stayed relatively upright. Next up!”

“I don’t like to run.” Helen stated with an edge of irritation before putting on her blindfold. 

“I’ve seen you run from my office plenty, Helen,” Cat finally spoke, giving a nod to Marin. “Don’t let _her_ pull you along. You set the pace.”

“Yes, Miss-“

“Cat.”

Even Helen pulled her blindfold down with the correction as Cat looked at both of them as if they’d suddenly lost their minds. 

“We’re not at work and I’m not your boss right now. Come on before Rombo over there makes us start over.”

Even Kara had to laugh at that one, watching Helen re-affix her blindfold as Marin took her hand into both of her own. 

“C’mon Marin! You got this!” Hunter shouted as the other guys cheered. 

“Go!”

The two women started off, a walk taking the all too quick shift into a run but Marin kept her hold on Helen’s hands and with only a small trip up near the end made it over to the others. 

“Good job. We’re getting better. Next up!”

Pip, Hunter, Marin, Leon and Orin looked over at Cat and Kara before sending a round of knowing glances between themselves. Pip made a gesture to cheer them on loudly while the others agreed, not sure of the immediate plan exactly but, aware enough to use this moment as the start of trying to get the two back together. 

Kara looked over at Cat as she took off her glasses, noting how Cat shifted anxiously under her gaze, waiting for Kara to blindfold herself. 

“I trust you.” 

Cat straightened at that, watching Kara make a show of closing her eyes before pulling the blindfold up and holding her glasses out for Cat to take from her. 

“You got this… Cat!” Marin shouted, as the others clapped or cheered, waiting for the call to go. 

Cat stepped closer, setting one hand under Kara’s wrist to let her know where she was before carefully taking her glasses from her and securing them into the chest pocket of her own jacket. 

Cat eyed Kara’s frame, knowing she could easily out-stride her before looking at Kara’s waiting outstretched fingers. With a quick glance to the others, Cat laced her fingers with Kara’s, her attention pulled back with the other woman’s sudden sharp intake of breath. 

Kara stretched and firmly slotted her fingers between Cat’s own before wrapping tightly around her hand. Cat drew in a slow settling breath, adjusting their grip enough to be comfortable for the both of them.

“Go!”

Cat squeezed Kara’s hand hard, signaling her forward movement and found no hesitation in Kara’s frame as they started out. When she felt Kara squeeze back after a few strides, she quickened her pace as the group ahead of her cheered and shouted even louder. 

Another squeeze and they were running almost full tilt in tandem, Kara easily keeping up with Cat’s pace while Cat maintained their line with barely any effort. 

Kara felt the drum of Cat’s heart beating against her palm, the warmth of her skin moving within their grasp and for that brief moment focused on nothing but the other woman and the finite movements she made as they sprinted across the clearing. 

Cat squeezed her hand again and Kara slowed, feeling the tension in Cat’s hold redouble and sharply tug her down. It was then Kara realized she wasn’t touching the ground.

“Slow up!” Hunter called seeing the sudden shift between Cat and Kara just as they passed the invisible line Ronnie had set up. 

Kara felt Cat pull their joined grasp up to her chest, holding her there firmly with both hands before her weight shifted. 

“Oh shit, they’re going down.” Pip said as the group turned with the two women’s near olympiad finish. 

Kara reached across Cat’s front pulling her in just as the other woman seemed to lose her stride. She turned both of them effortlessly with the slightest touch of her super-speed before impacting hard with the ground while keeping Cat steady until they stopped. 

Cat was panting hard, hands braced on the flat of Kara’s chest and the ground beside her head, her knees set astride the other woman’s body. Their impact with the ground should have been harder, jarring actually, but Cat only just now registered her own weight against the ground and the Kara beneath her. 

Kara could definitely recall better landings, but none that ended up like this. Her blindfold was half off and Cat’s features hovered just over her own. Her skin was flush, and her hair draped around them like a curtain. The grip she had around Cat’s waist eased, allowing the woman to actually settle instead of hover over her. 

“Cat, are you all right? Are you hurt?”

All coherency of the English language failed Cat with the tender pressure of Kara’s hands wrapped around the top of her thighs near her hips. There was a flutter of pressure along Kara’s fingertips as the other woman sat up a little that served to kick-start Cat’s brain. 

“I’m okay… Are you?”

Half hidden away in the tall grass, Kara pulled up a leg, foot squaring up against the ground while her knee barely touched Cat’s back. Cat reached up, fingers pulling at the blindfold around Kara’s features until it was free. Each heavy breath drawing them closer as Kara rose a little further onto her arms. 

Kara could hear the others getting closer, albeit with an annoyed comment from Ronnie at Orin’s attempts to help her carry the rope that were actually impeding her progress somewhere to her right. She also heard Helen swear under her breath while Marin apologized for getting underfoot further to their left. 

“I…”

Cat’s whole body tensed as Leon announced where he thought the two of them were, a good ten feet or more from where they actually had landed. With it, Cat’s entire expression shifted into a kind of panic as she pushed herself back, sitting squarely within the cradle of Kara’s hips.

“Your glasses,” she said absently as if that explained everything. Cat felt around her jacket almost frantically before fishing them out and ushering them onto Kara’s face. Kara blinked as her eyes adjusted, unsure suddenly of what to do and far too aware of how Cat was sitting to move. 

Her lungs practically collapsed in the next second when Cat’s legs tightened around her involuntarily, and the look she received from the other woman coupled with the slight flush of Cat’s throat, made Kara’s mouth suddenly run dry. 

“Let go…” Cat whispered with an air of regret that caused Kara’s brow to furrow.

With a glance over Cat’s body, to check her for injury due to her sudden change in demeanor, Kara’s eyes went wide before she lifted the firm grip of her hands off from around Cat’s thighs as if scalded. Cat cleared her throat softly, not daring to look at Kara as she braced herself on the other woman once more in order to push herself up. 

“There they are!” Pip exclaimed as Cat’s head popped up over the tall grass. “Are you two okay?”

“Fine!” Both women answered in tandem. 

Cat stood slowly, testing her own weight just in case she had hurt herself but hadn’t realized it while Kara rolled and stood in a single motion, brushing herself off. 

“Those pants are a lost cause.” 

Kara turned to look over her shoulder at Cat, brow raising before trying to look down at her backside, barely seeing the stains coloring her jeans while her mind gradually came to the understanding that Cat had been looking at her- 

“Damn Danvers, way to stick the landing,” Hunter chuckled as the others made their way over. 

“Are you two really okay?” Helen was suddenly right there, checking both women over until Cat shooed her away.

“I said I’m fine,” Cat huffed, running her hands through her hair to push it away from her face. 

Kara nodded, still brushing dirt from her shirt with a little help from Marin. “I’m good, Helen, I swear.”

“The next lesson we need to learn here is restraint.” 

Cat threw the woman a sharp glare and was just about to lay into the facilitator when an earth shattering crack of thunder broke over the clearing. 

The entire group startled with the sound, even as it was siphoned down to a low, ominous rumble; all except for Kara. The initial noise had caused her to tense, but instead of cowering or ducking down, she squared her shoulders and looked out across the darkening horizon. 

“On that note,” Cat said after another minute, stepping closer to Ronnie. “We’re done, all in favor?" 

The whole of the group raised their hands and Cat gestured to them for Ronnie's sake before turning to head back to the cabins.

“Given the turn in the weather, I’ll outline a few activities that you all can complete indoors before we pick back up tomorrow.”

“Fantastic,” Cat called back while the others turned to follow her lead back to their lodges. 


	11. Chapter 11

The group had enough time to manage a kind of thrown together dinner by the time Ronnie drove off, but not before leaving them all with homework for the next day. They had just about finished up clearing the lower common space when the rain forced them all inside their respective cabins. 

Thankfully, the flues for each of their cabins were covered to keep the damp at bay. Kara put another small set of logs into the hearth of her cabin, thankful everyone had made sure to bring extra wood up just in case that rains didn't stop after tonight. 

Cat was curled up in a chair nearby, sipping coffee and looking over their required homework. Kara turned with the other woman's sigh, already sensing the eye roll that followed thereafter.

"That bad?" 

"I feel like I'm back in prep school," Cat drolled, tossing the small set of papers aside. 

"That insightful, huh?"

Cat cast Kara a look that spoke volumes from around another sip of her coffee. 

"They can't be all bad, I mean this stuff is used across the country or something right?" 

"It's rather antiquated if you ask me." Cat murmured around a sip.

"Ooor, the methods work, they're just irritating because they push people out of their work zone into a personal zone." 

Kara crawled over, not bothering to get off the floor to travel the short distance to where Cat had set the papers down. 

"There's a reason for that kind of separation," Cat stated matter-of-factly, watching Kara skim over the first sheet. "At least in my position."

Kara glanced up for a half-second before tipping her head curiously as she looked down at the sheet. The suggestions offered weren't terrible but they were the standard ice breaker fair that tried to build upon personal elements between co-workers. However, the more she read, she realized most of the objectives she would probably excel at given the subject across from her. 

Perhaps not so much with the others in their group, but certainly with Cat. Then again, there was a reason for that, what with having been her assistant for so long. 

Cat drew in a slow breath, studying Kara as she slipped into some inner tangle of thoughts. There was a reason Cat had pushed the papers aside and not because they were inept. As much as she knew about her employees, Kara had been an exception in that department. At first, it was because she couldn't really be bothered beyond what was on paper. Later on, when she had gone full exposé reporter on Kara and her being Supergirl she had gathered everything she could on paper. None of which actually amounted to giving her insight into who Kara was as a person beyond the hero.

After the duality of Supergirl and Kara in her office and a few other incidents where Cat was the target because of her closeness to the Girl of Steel, she had made the choice not to get to know the woman beyond her cape or her penny loafers. For both their sakes, which she had made up for in a way, when she had promoted the woman. Although, that was her own minute selfish reason for it, not the actual reason Kara had been promoted. 

Kara had managed that all on her own. 

Nearly a year later, no one could have told her that the two of them would be sitting in a space like this edging around the interpersonal requirements in order to keep her position as CEO and her company on good standing. She would have laughed them out of her office and maybe given them a bonus for the effort.

Now, she was dreading it, not because she didn't want to know those things about Kara; she did, very much so in fact. What she  _ was _ dreading, was how much Kara already knew about her and how Cat wouldn't be able to respond so easily in kind. 

"Cat?"

The woman blinked, having missed whatever question Kara had presented her with, covering her lapse with another sip of coffee. 

"Kara?"

Kara chewed on her bottom lip a bit, she knew they didn't have to do any of the items outlined and could most likely bluff their way out of any follow up with Ronnie the next day, and yet…

"Did you want to try maybe one or two?"

Cat flexed her jaw in consideration, as Kara fiddled with the edge of the papers. The hairs on the back of her neck rose up, signaling that this could be far less productive and far more dangerous than initially intended. 

"We don't have to," Kara started with Cat's hesitation. "Not like she'll-"

"When have you known me to sidestep an assignment?" Cat interrupted, pulling Kara's focus. "Not an event or something, an  _ actual  _ assignment?"

"Never." 

"Okay then," Cat looked down at Kara from her place on the floor. “You’re going to have to move.” Kara’s brow furrowed with the directive. “I will not sit on the floor just so we can be on an equal footing here.” 

“Oh… okay…" Kara pushed herself up from the floor. There really weren't that many options beyond another chair and a small couch unless they moved out of the main room into the bedroom. 

Kara grabbed the other chair from across the room and pulled it over so she was in front of Cat, while allowing each of them their own separate space. 

Cat shifted in her seat, sitting cross legged while Kara sat on one leg and curled her other knee up into her chest. 

The two sat like that for a second or two before Cat gave a small nod realizing Kara was going to make her pick which of the listed suggestions they would attempt, despite having the list in her hand. 

"Did you have a specific one you wanted to try?" 

Kara swallowed thickly, glancing at the lists before looking over at Cat. "Something easy?"

"That's relative."

"Okay, uhm, well there's twenty questions, two truths one lie, this rapid fire word thing, and then other stuff we would have to do that requires paper and pen or other items."

Cat rose a high brow at that last part, she must have missed those, before shifting in her seat a bit to get more comfortable. "Twenty questions. You start."

Kara gave a wobbly nod, stuffing the papers beside her as she settled in, looking over at Cat who appeared as calm and collected as ever. 

"What… is your favorite color?" 

Cat eyed the other woman, ' _ of course she would start with that', _ she thought, before drawing a breath to answer. "Blue."

Kara waited a second, then two in order for Cat to expand and when she didn't, started to take a breath for her next question. 

"Favorite food?" Cat asked, if they were going to stay somewhat surface level she figured she would play along and speed right on through as well. 

"Potstickers…" Kara said, understanding that they would be trading questions instead of going down a list individually. "For now."

Cat tipped her head with the addition but Kara was already primed with another question. 

"Favorite time of day?"

"Twilight," Cat would have said morning before now, but the repeated visits from Supergirl to her balcony at CatCo in the evenings when the woman claimed to be on patrol had changed that somewhat. 

"Worst part of your day?" 

Kara sat back a bit with that one, and Cat almost wished she could recall the questions when Kara’s expression shifted from eager to reserved in a split second. 

A hundred answers swarmed in her mind, half of them centered around Cat and not being her assistant any longer while the rest dealt with any time she had failed or been too late as Supergirl. 

"Being alone."

Cat felt a twinge in her chest with Kara's answer. Not only with the way Kara said it, quiet and almost as if she were recounting all the times she had been left alone but, because Cat could relate all too well. 

Kara adjusted her glasses in the silence between them before tucking in her lips to center herself. 

“I’m sorry,” Cat started as Kara shook her head. 

“It’s okay, that's the point right?” 

“The point isn’t to upset you,” Cat clarified. “It’s meant to get to know you.” 

Kara glanced over, studying Cat’s features for a long moment, her words striking a deep chord within her. She wanted Cat to get to know her, far more than these trivial questions seemed to be providing and in much safer surroundings.    
  
“We can stop-”

“No, I mean,” Kara shifted in her chair, sitting cross legged as she wrapped her hands around her ankles to ground herself. “I just answered. No thought, and I… I wanted you to know that,” Kara said honestly her eyes staying on Cat who was watching her with renewed interest. 

Cat studied her thoughtfully, taking in Kara’s posture and the gradual ease of her guard. How this woman managed even moderately to keep her super persona hidden was a super power all its own with the way Cat felt she could read Kara across from her now. She saw the nuances that were very specific to Kara, that human, vulnerable side of her, while the superhero that she was, clung just to the edges. 

“So ask your question.” 

Kara chewed on her bottom lip as she considered her options, she wanted to ask something she didn’t know and at the same time wanted to pull them up from where her prior answer had taken them. 

“One thing you think everyone should experience?"

"One thing?"

Kara smirked slightly, giving a small nod as Cat pursed her lips in thought. The easy answer was there, as was the more complicated one. Given the turn of her last question, the last thing she wanted was for this to shift into some kind of therapy session. 

"Jumping out of a plane, or something equally adrenaline worthy. Controlled, but not enough to get complacent with the idea of whatever it is."

"That's… telling."

It was Cat's turn to smirk. "Maybe. I find it freeing."

"I might say reckless."

"That's amusing coming from you."

Kara tipped her head, eyeing Cat cautiously before the woman leaned back in her chair. 

"Secret talent?" 

"What makes you think-"

Cat rose a high brow, pinning Kara to her spot with a single look.

Kara shifted nervously with that look before answering. "Painting and sculpture I guess."

Cat looked rather impressed, she knew Kara had an artistic fluidity to her, all creative types did. It followed them around and was reflected in the way they kept their desk or dressed themselves or any number of menial things that when looked at correctly weren't menial at all. 

"I'd like to see that, your artwork, sometime."

The smile that pulled at Kara's mouth made Cat's heart flutter, especially with being the cause of it. It was soft and involuntary, but carried with it a kind of secret joy that lit Kara up from the inside out and permeated the room.

"Maybe I'll paint something for you." 

Cat swallowed visibly with Kara's comment, catching sight of the barest flush to the woman's cheeks with the promise. There was no maybe about it, and somewhere in the back of her mind, Cat knew it would be something to cherish without even an inkling of an idea towards what Kara would paint for her. 

Cat reached for her mug then, only to have Kara stand and offer to take the cup from her. 

"It's probably cold now, let me refill it."

"You don't have to do that."

"I know, I want to." ' _ I miss it, and you'  _ Kara thought to herself. 

Cat tracked her gaze across Kara's features, the slight blush of the woman's cheeks still present before she wordlessly passed the mug over. 

Kara gave her another soft smile before slipping past Cat towards the small stove, easily going about making another hot cupful of coffee. 

"Next question to you," Cat prompted, her gaze having drifted to the hearth across the room as she listened to Kara move around behind her. 

“Worst date experience?” Kara winced a little internally, unsure if she wanted to go that route given Cat’s track record with ex-husbands but hoped Cat would be receptive to it in the manner with which Kara intended. 

“Lois Lane."

The sudden clatter of the kettle made Cat jump and turn around as Kara swore under her breath in her native language before grabbing for a towel. 

"No coffee then?"

Kara looked over at the other woman, wiping the space clear where she had knocked Cat's mug over. 

"Oh, there will be coffee, and more details."

"Oh, will there now?" Cat questioned, uncoiling from her chair in order to save Kara the trip. 

"You can't just move on from an answer like that."

Cat chuckled under her breath, watching Kara prep two mugs this time. "The rules say nothing about clarifying the answers given."

Kara looked over at her, kettle poised and ready. "You dated Lois Lane?"

"So we're skipping my question?"

"You already asked one, no two, about coffee."

"That wasn't what I would have asked." 

The sudden drop in Cats tone nearly made Kara drop the mugs again. She cleared her throat softly before Kara filled their mugs and gestured towards Cat. "It was still a question so technically, since I answered it, it's my turn to ask another.

"Fair point." Cat allowed, keeping her mirth in check as Kara hurried with their drinks. A step to the side and Kara passed the mug over as Cat wrapped her hands around the object, thankful for the warmth. 

Kara waited, and waited a little more, her gaze becoming more insistent as Cat savored her first sip. 

"What?"

"What… what. You dated Lois Lane?"

Cat smirked behind her mug, poised for another sip. "I did."

Kara made an odd sound of disappointment, just staring at the other woman. 

"I answered. Twice now." Cat said with an edge in her voice that made Kara's heart flutter and her hair prick to attention along the back of her neck. "My turn."

"Okay, go ahead."

"Why're you so interested?"

Kara knew she had walked into that one. She was also plenty aware of Cat's sexual fluidity, but Lois Lane was a whole other thing. Especially since she was engaged to her cousin now. 

Kara swallowed thickly, pushing aside the actual reasons for her curiosities to tamer subjects. "Because… I… never read about it. That seems like a noteworthy topic for either of you and you've both written books about your lives and left that one out." 

Cat made a face, eyeing the other woman with an air of scrutiny that made Kara check her shirt for an errant piece of lint. 

"That's it? The lack of print on the subject?" 

"No… not, not entirely. She's going to be my cousin too…" Kara watched Cat bristle a bit, swearing she heard the other woman comment on that subject even though Cat's mouth didn't move. "That's two."

Cat rolled her eyes. "Go on then."

"What happened?" 

Cat gave a mock sigh of exhasperation before giving a one shouldered shrug. "Frankly I'm surprised you didn't already know given how connected you two are now." 

"We… Lois and I, we're not, really close like that?" Chalk that up to distance and her former position. Not that she wouldn't do next to anything for Lois seeing as she was her cousin's fiance, but connected was not a word she would have used. If they were on Krypton, it would be her duty and honor as the matriarch of the House of El to welcome Lois into their family. But this was not Krypton and that sense of familial obligation and ritual was lost on Kal. 

Cat studied Kara openly for a moment, watching her expression flicker and flare with emotions that Cat had somehow urged to the fore again. 

"She ended up focusing on someone else I wasn't aware would also be dining where we went. Made the front page with the effort. Rivalled only by my own column at the time." 

Kara thought back, Cat's initial foray into print had been one of integrity until Lois was on the scene, alongside her cousin, where she slipped into the gossip columns and honed her wit and veiled sarcasm. Although now Kara wondered if that was by choice or a force of circumstance. 

“While you may not have read about it, it’s right up there with having your wisdom teeth extracted.” 

Kara shook her head after another minute letting it all sink in. Well aware she wasn't going to get much more than that out of Cat given the tone of her last answer. "Seems hard to imagine but, not impossible. Lois can get really focused… uh apparently."

"That's a nice way of putting it." Cat offered, leaning back against the wall as she continued to study Kara while she drifted back into whatever internal narrative was going on in her mind. 

"Harder to imagine anyone putting you aside like that." 

Cat lifted her head slowly with Kara's quieter comment, watching the realization that Kara had actually said what she was thinking as it crept up her face in the form of flushed skin. 

Kara took a breath as if to say something, tamping down her initial panic at her lapse before taking a quick sip of her coffee. 

"Think the rain will let up?"

"It's not your turn for a question yet," Cat said calmly, watching that flush grow deeper as Kara shifted her weight but remained standing just in front of Cat regardless of the scrutiny. 

"Oh… I wouldn't have asked, I mean, that wasn't-"

"Why is it so hard for you to imagine?" Cat asked softly as Kara grew still and chanced a more direct look at her. "A few of my ex-husbands seemed to find it amusing, good example to-"

"Because you're incredible," Kara rushed as Cat went silent. 

Normally Cat would have immediately agreed, playing it off as a simple known fact, were it anyone but Kara saying it. Instead, she stood there, unable to look away as Kara braved her gaze, showing her without word there was no doubt to the truth of Kara's statement. 

"Incredible..." Cat whispered, knowing she was skimming a very fine line as her mind supplied a very different word she had clearly heard Kara speak just over a week ago in regards to what the other woman thought about her. "No other adjectives come to mind?"

Cat felt the tension from earlier in the day snap tight around her again, reminding her that while it had grown slack, it was still very much there between them. Her gaze drifted lower to the swell of Kara's lips and the visible drum of her heartbeat along her throat as it beat harder and faster within her chest.

Kara thought of a thousand other words, very few of them outside her native language with the question. Her heart felt as if it were going to explode with the other woman's hushed, and almost playfully knowing tone. Her lips moved just enough to warrant an answer but they died somewhere in her throat as Cat moved.

Cat stepped forward slowly, watching Kara's shoulders pull up and back as if she were standing in front of her in full Supergirl regalia. Kara pulled in a slow breath as Cat neared, her gaze half lidden as the other woman drew close enough to touch without moving. 

"It's late…" Cat offered, pressing her mug into Kara's free hand and rescuing her from answering.

Kara held both mugs, her fingers brushing across Cat's where they lingered against her skin. 

"Oh…" 

Cat bit back a small smile, moving past Kara. "We should get ready for bed."

Kara nearly dropped the mugs in her grasp with the slight drop in Cat's voice, praying to Rao the other woman hadn't seen. 

"Right…" Kara whispered to herself, suddenly very aware they were sharing this space and a bed. She dumped the mugs, edging around the bed once she reached the smaller room, gathering her own night clothes in her grasp. She fought with herself and the need to say something more, something else, completely oblivious to the fact that Cat already had her shirt off across the way from her. 

Kara turned with a breath, poised to ask one final question only to whip back around as she had been. 

"Stop."

Cat had just freed the button of her pants and hooked her thumbs around her waistband when she heard Kara's plea. Cat's eyes lifted towards Kara, her brow chasing towards her hairline as she saw the other woman half turned and intensely fascinated by the wood grain of the nearest support structure. 

The edge of her throat beyond her shirt collar was as red as her cape and as Cat's gaze ventured higher she saw that same color chasing along Kara's cheek. 

"Is something wrong?"

Kara let out an incredulous sound, her head bowing forward as her shoulders seemed to drop a bit. She turned her own night clothes over in her grasp before letting out a breath and lifting her head, keeping Cat just outside her periphery. 

"I uhm... no, not, I mean, maybe?"

"Kara?"

Kara felt her chest cave at the slight waver in Cat's voice. The last thing she wanted was for the woman to feel uneasy or self conscious. 

"You're still my boss," Kara whispered, instantly wishing she hadn't said it. In fact Kara wished she was here as Supergirl instead, or unemployed, or anything beyond the reminder that this was work related. 

"Oh…" Cat allowed, drawing her night shirt up from the bed closer to herself then. 

Kara turned slightly, catching sight of Cat's bare midsection before modesty took hold. "I..." 

Cat swallowed thickly, of all the ways to end the night. Kara was at least someone she thought would balance out the other’s scrutiny and apprehension towards her. Even if some of that had eased with today's activities. 

Kara lifted her gaze sharply, watching Cat's impassive mask starting to slip into place. "Please…"

Cat stiffened slightly when Kara seemed to just appear in front of her after a blink. 

"It's not you." Kara's voice was adamant despite the whisper of it. "I swear Cat." 

On Krypton, the level of modesty humans exhibited would be considered laughable. Cat was an exception, her self confidence and assured awareness of her own body were equal to any Kryptonian but years of living on Earth and constantly hiding who and what she was had imprinted in Kara enough. 

She didn't want to see Cat quite so undressed, not as casual and flippant as the act of changing clothes in close quarters seemed this very moment. A small voice added that she wanted to do the undressing but she shoved it aside as Cat tightened her grip on her shirt between them. 

"It's not you." Kara reaffirmed, her gaze offering no waver as Cat searched her gaze and slowly relaxed her shoulders. 

"Then what is it?" Cat wasn't sure why she asked, or why she wanted to know beyond the day catching up to her. Kara had seen her half dressed, helping with a stuck zipper or a swift change for an event. Then again, those times had always been at CatCo. 

Kara absently licked her lips, her throat running dry as she considered her answer with uncertainty. She wanted to say it was inappropriate, but only because of the way Kara felt towards the other woman not because of what they were at CatCo. She cursed herself all over again as the conversation she had had with Alex earlier in the week repeated itself in her head with perfect recall coupled with the questions from tonight. All of it swirling together to unsettle and confuse her seven more. 

"Ask me again tomorrow, when we're not exhausted and worn out and overthinking. Okay?"

"That's not an answer." 

Kara let out a small sigh. "I know, I know and I'm sorry… but I don't-"

"What?"

"I don't want to say the wrong thing… again. Cat… I… just, please, ask me tomorrow."

Cat barely had time to say something more as Kara moved away from her and out of sight. 

By the time Kara emerged from the bathroom, the lights were off and nothing but the glow of the dying fire in the main room filled the space. Cat was on her side, facing the space Kara should have already occupied. 

She listened carefully, noting the other woman's slower rhythms before letting out a soft sigh, internally cursing herself. Of all the things at that moment to have said and the one she comes up with is Cat being her boss. Which was ironically just an answer to her own internal question on taking a bold step forward and asking Cat an altogether different question. Not so much asking as acting. Now, she was more worried her actions would only cause a deeper chasm between them. 

Kara took in a deep breath, turning to look towards the main room knowing she could sleep just about anywhere. She cast another glance towards Cat as lightning lit up the entire space and the world outside. Kara edged into the room, careful to move around the bed in order to look out the window. 

The drone of the rain and the conversation she had been engaged in had dulled her other senses, but now in the quiet, the world outside, and the storm raging had her full attention. She pulled her glasses down, tipping her head just enough to hone her senses when she heard the snapping of trees like toothpicks through the static of the rain. 

Her mind instantly recalled the drive in, how she and the others were driven down into a valley, and how the initial images of the lodge, when they had all agreed to this excursion, were set around the nearby mountain range. Her heart seized and she moved without thinking, grabbing her suit from a hidden portion of her bag before using her super-speed to get into it. 

Kara was outside with barely a whisper, realizing the only thing that could snap hundred year old trees that wasn’t super human, was the sudden unexpected rush of a few hundred thousand gallons of water no longer held back by the nearby dam.

  
  
  
  



	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: This chapter has depictions of confined spaces and the threat of drowning.

Kara raced up and out away from the others, leaving a void in the rainfall until she reached the farthest edge of a clearing. Despite the downpour, she tracked movement across the ground up ahead and the thunderous rumble of uprooted trees and broken earth turned mud. 

The lodge wasn’t far behind, along with various pockets of civilization within the region. With a deep breath, she shot off in that direction, headed straight for the flow. 

Within seconds she was in line with it before she cut ahead and dropped low. She used her whole body to cut a channel into the earth, pulling up hard and doubling back as she sent wave after wave of frigid air against the onslaught to try to slow it down. In rapid succession, she moved back and forth, narrowing the breadth of the onslaught before heading back to the trench she had created. 

Moving as fast as she could manage, she plucked giant logs from the raging flood, piecing them together around the trench further out. Blasting her makeshift dam with frigid air until there was a solid wall of ice and timber. 

As she drew back, her heart sank as more and more water filled the space until it threatened to spill over again. The dam further up ahead had to be compromised, if it was just the rain most of what she had done should have staunched the flow enough to give people more time. 

Kara took off again, racing towards the mountain range where they had driven across the dam itself. 

“Rao bless it…” she swore once she was close enough. Were it not such a threat, what she was looking at would almost be comical. In the dead center of the dam itself, water was pouring out. The pressure of the contained reservoir beyond shooting out nearly fifty feet or more. With another flash of lightning, Kara felt her heart seize at the sight of the crack working its way in both directions from where the architecture was already damaged.

If she didn’t do something soon, the whole thing would go and there wouldn’t be enough time to help anyone no matter how hard she tried. 

Kara flew over the dam as the storm surged around her, claxons and warning lights going off all along the structure. She circled low, hovering just above the water before taking a deep breath and diving into the murky depths. She felt the pull of the current, ushering her towards the break until she nearly came out the other side. 

She twisted hard, colliding with twisted rebar and warped steel. With another turn she found herself within the inner workings of the dam itself. Using another burst of speed she barreled through, holding her arms out wide to try to gather as much of the metal and debris around her as she could muster without bringing the whole thing down on top of her. 

Her lungs burned from the effort as she let the current take her, jamming up the innards of the tunnel at the breech before slipping out again before flying back up and plunging into the waters once more. 

Kara went to the opposite side this time, prying anything she could off the concrete and mortar, fighting against the current with all her strength as she fastened beams and twisted railings like a patch. Her heat vision supercharged the surrounding water, sending steam upward in order to build pressure enough to force the water down from within the maintenance and overflow tunnels.

She pushed her limits until even underwater the metal latticework burned red. The surrounding water cooled and tempered the metal as it melted and warped. With another fight against the current and through the tunnels, she repeated the process on the other side. Alternating between her heat vision and freeze breath intent on beating the water back while shaping the metal to her will. 

When Kara felt the current start to level out she let out another intense burst of heat, melting the metal around her further while turning the water to vapor until she was about waist deep. 

Kara breathed hard and heavy, the initial panic of drowning only now clinging to her. The haunting glow of red from the emergency system her only light source, sparking flashbacks of memories from Krypton on its final day. She pushed through the clawing anxiety threatening to swallow her up within the confined space as she fought against the water and waded through the tunnel. After a few more feet she caught the twisted helix of a ladder above her leading up to the next level and upon reaching it levitated up through the opening. 

The entire structure groaned and whined, threatening to come apart and reminding her this was only a temporary fix. Using her super-speed she again gathered armfuls of steel and metal, sending blast after blast of her heat vision along fissures and cracks as she moved higher through the cavernous inner workings. 

When Kara finally reached the top, the sudden surrounding vastness of the area nearly overwhelmed her. Her senses shifted roughly as she pulled in lungfuls of unnecessary air, while the abrupt surge of relief in her body made her unsteady. Another monstrous groan from the structure pulled her attention and with a heavy clatter, she got to work on making another patchwork of metal. Melting beams and rails and anything else she had managed while flattening the pliant substance out with her hands never once slowing down. She doubled back into the cavern of tunnels, hyper-focused on her task to keep her fears at bay as she gathered more and more metal. 

In a matter of moments, she was in the air again, one makeshift patch held above her head as she flew down to the external breach in the dam. For all her efforts inside, water was still spilling out but not nearly at the rate it had been. With another quick burst of speed, she slammed into the dam, warping and bending the metal in her grasp to fit until she felt the jagged latticework of what she had forged moments ago.

With a shout of frustration, she twisted and pulled, warping the two pieces together until the water stopped completely. With a prayer to Rao, she let out another blast of her heat vision, pushing and molding whatever she could in the process until the last stream of water stopped. 

Her body heavy she flew back up, grabbing the second patch, knowing this one would take far more effort as Kara hovered over the raging water of the reservoir. With another deep breath, she dropped into the water, fighting with the current to gain access to the breech. Kara navigated as best she could through the depths, finding the compromised section before jamming and shoving the panel she had crafted into the space. 

The surge pressed her body against the panel, hands bending through metal until she found the other side and felt a heavy suction threatening to pull her back in. Using all her might she struggled back, fighting current and pressure before sending broader blast waves of her heat vision against the structure, guided by her x-ray vision to combat the surrounding water hindering her progress. 

Over and over again she fought and struggled until the drawing suction of the water suddenly gave way to nothing but pressure from the water being held back. Kara rushed to the surface, erupting from the water before dropping down on the dam’s outer level. Kara panted and sputtered, hands braced on the concrete from where she landed as she slowly pushed to a stand. 

Kara made her way to the tunnels once more, listening to the dam as it whined but otherwise held fast. With a final drop, she was back on the level where the break had been, the sound of trickling water still echoing across the walls. 

She laid down short bursts of her heat vision, filling the tunnel with humidity and steam as she trudged over to what remained of the rupture. 

She grabbed for bits of metal here and there, pushing and prodding each piece into proper place before sealing it over with her heat vision. She even went so far as to spread some of what she had done out over the concrete with her hands in an attempt to make a solid wall to combat the water on the other side until not even a single drop of water slipped through. 

Kara felt exhausted, a rare feat, and figured part of that was from her adrenaline wearing down as she floated back up to the surface and out to survey the outer wall of the dam. She hovered in place, looking for other portions that might buckle or give way before lifting higher into the air. 

She heard a sputter of static followed by a faint noise, rising higher above the storm clouds until Alex’s voice sounded in her ear. 

“ _ Supergirl, can you hear me? _

“Alex!”

“ Oh, thank God.”

“How-“

“ _ We put a monitor up in the area, knowing you’d be away from the city.” _

“You need to get somebody up here. I’ve done what I could but the Copper Gate dam is wrecked.”

“ _ You don’t know.” _

“Know what?” Kara felt the undeniable pull of gravity yank her down before she righted herself. The sudden lapse in her powers and her control over them, as if all her abilities were suddenly running on empty, sent another wave of fear through her body.

“Alex-“

“ _ Kara, listen _ ,” Alex interrupted, as Kara suddenly took off back towards Cat and the others. “ _ There was an earthquake, it’s probably the reason for whatever you’re experiencing there.” _

Kara didn’t answer, pushing herself to her limits as she began to lose altitude. 

“ _ Thankfully, it was along the ocean floor but it’s sending major ripples everywhere along the coast.” _

Kara could feel the chill and fierce bite of the rain as it pelted against her body, the heavy exhaustion clawing at her final reserves. She could just make out the line of trees just beyond their camp as she realized all too late she wasn’t flying so much as falling. 

“ _ Astra is doing what she can, but we need you back here as quickly as you can manage without giving yourself away.” _

Kara brought her arms up in front of herself, breaking through limbs and brush as she impacted with the ground, sending water and debris up all around her. 

“ _ Supergirl _ ?” Alex pressed a hand to her ear, listening to the snapping of branches and the sudden hollow wash of what sounded as if she were being dunked underwater. “ _ Kara _ !”

Kara came up with a sputter, clawing at a tree to keep from floating too far. Her cape twisted around her body, weighing her down as the current pulled at her. 

“No powers…” Kara coughed, trying to find her footing before she pushed off the tree and frantically grappled for something else to hang on to. 

“ _ What?! Kara… Kara, keep talking to me _ .”

Kara ducked underwater, realizing it was a foot or so over her head before pushing from the ground back up. “I blew them with the dam!” 

Kara coughed and choked, fighting against the current until she felt rope in her grasp. She clung to it for all she was worth, dragging herself up before the harder slick of wood met her fingers. She gripped at the slats, working to pull herself up as the water sought to pull her back under by her cape. 

“ _ Kara where are you _ ?”

“Camp… landing… water’s moving too fast,” Kara spat, nearly losing her grip as she kicked against the current. “Can’t hold on.” Kara felt her grasp slipping again, threatening to fail and allow the water to pull her along. 

“ _ Kara don’t you dare let go, listen to me, listen to my voice. You’re strong, you can do this now pull yourself up!” _

Kara prayed to Rao, struggling to maintain her hold. Her body felt as if it were encased in lead and refused to cooperate. She felt one hand give way, the other not too far behind. “Tell them I’m sorry…”

“ _ KARA _ !”

Kara’s fingers slipped free and just as the water grabbed at her, she was suddenly yanked in the opposite direction. 

Hands clutched at her cape, reeling her in before fastening around her suit and hauling her up with a grunt of effort. Kara’s feeble grasp registered the wooden landing again and the solid form of someone else dragging her up. 

“Keep moving!” Cat shouted above the raging water, doing her best to draw Kara’s body further back onto the platform with her. “You’re not giving up that easily.” 

Kara kicked out, her boots scraping across the platform until she fell back against the other woman clear of the water as Alex shouted in her ear in praise of Cat Grant. 

Kara panted and coughed, her entire weight settling against Cat’s own as the woman’s arms wrapped her up from behind. 

“ _ Tell that :zhaolia bitch I love her!” _ Alex shouted, forcing Kara to grimace. 

“Don’t you dare stop now,” Cat said against her other ear as she felt Kara’s body start to go slack, hands pressed firmly against her crest. Cat was breathing just as hard, drenched to the bone as she held onto the other woman. “Can you move your legs?”

Kara tested her limbs, her muscles were jello and her legs felt heavy but no pain answered her back signaling she had broken anything. “I think so. ”

“Good, now we’re going to get up and get inside before this landing gives way. Do you understand me?”

Kara looked around in the darkness, rain pouring down on them as the rushing water beneath them threatened to tear the anchor of the landing and them with it. 

They were still in danger. 

Cat was in danger. 

“Yes,” Kara ground out the word through clenched teeth, planting her feet as Cat counted. When she reached three, the pair moved, Kara pitching forward on her hands as Cat moved to stand and pull Kara up with her. Cat bent down, draping Kara’s arm around her shoulders to help steady the other woman. 

“You have to climb, and I’ll be right behind you, but we have to hurry before the others see you.”

“Cat...I-“

“Move it Supergirl, now!”

Kara grabbed for the ladder, pulling herself up as she struggled to find her footing until Cat forced her boot up to the next rung. 

What had taken seconds earlier in the day felt like hours as Kara climbed higher with Cat helping her from underneath. As she reached the upper landing on her hands and knees Cat’s hands were around her again, urging her up before they crossed the first bridge-way and Cat shouldered them back into their cabin. 

Kara crumpled to the floor, sprawled out in her suit, cape draped around her like a shroud, and soaking wet as Cat shut the door behind them. She heard Alex in one ear and Cat in the other as her vision swam in and out. Her body felt warm, then hot as the onslaught of the storm outside quieted to a low hum. Cat was at her side after another second, and knowing that Cat was safe, Kara’s body started to shut down, dragging her down into unconsciousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translation: :zhaolia - fuckable (according to Alex/Astra ;) )


	13. Chapter 13

Cat grabbed at Kara’s cape, turning the woman over before hooking her arms under Kara’s as she drug her closer to the hearth in the main room. Her lips were blue and her skin pale while her body shivered uncontrollably on its own.  Cat tossed another set of logs into the fire before she stripped her own jacket and shirt off, tossing them aside as she hurried to the other room. She tossed her other clothes aside, pulling on a pair of underwear and Kara’s own tank top before she stripped the bed completely. 

She was moving on autopilot, grabbing towels, other blankets, and the first aid kit, only to drop the blankets on the couch before rushing back to Kara. She wrapped Kara’s head in a towel, soaking up the water there while trying to keep what heat she had left in her body from escaping. 

“Kara, don’t stop fighting,” Cat’s voice wavered as she tried to find some seal or seam to pull Kara’s suit apart with. The skirt was easy enough to discard, but her cape and bodysuit melded seamlessly together. “Please…” 

Cat focused on the sigil at Kara’s chest, before swearing to herself as she curled her fingers around the uppermost edges of the suit near Kara’s shoulders and pulled with all her might. While the material didn’t give way, it widened, and with a shift Cat focused on one shoulder, prying the material back and down before pulling Kara’s arm free. 

She moved to the other side then, repeating the motion as she laid a towel over Kara’s exposed skin before grabbing at the bodysuit around her ribs and pulling downward. With more effort than she should have had, Cat managed to pull it free, wrapping it up along with her cape and tucking it away. She wrapped another towel around Kara’s body before stripping her of her boots and tights and shoving them with the rest of her suit out of sight. 

Part of her mind screamed at her to go get the others, that Kara needed more help than she could offer. While another part of her balked at the idea, knowing there would be too many questions and no matter how she might answer them Kara could rouse at any moment and say something to the contrary. It was a gamble and one Cat wished she wasn’t taking. Her hands shook as she grabbed for the first aid kit, promising that if Kara didn’t improve soon, she would get someone else in here. Assuming they hadn’t already been witness to the pair of them climbing up the ladder and crossing the bridgeway. Then again, the storm had almost seemed to pique at that point as if the universe were converging on them at that moment to protect Kara’s identity. 

With another glance to Kara and her unconscious form, Cat pushed those thoughts aside. The fire nearby roared with new life, filling the small space with heat as Cat opened the first aid kit, frantically rummaging through it until she found a pair of heating packets. With a slap to the floor and a shake of the contents, heat filled her hands, and she tucked each one under Kara’s arms. 

Cat was up again in a flourish, dragging the blankets and bedclothes with her. Thunder rumbled and lightning lit up the room as she laid a heavy blanket out on the floor closest to the hearth. Careful not to get too close just in case before tucking pillows underneath the material. She pushed Kara on to another blanket, using it to drag the woman close enough to roll over onto the nest she had made before wrapping the woman’s body up. 

One by one she laid blankets and sheets and whatever she could find to cover the woman over her before doubling over the heavy comforter on top of her. 

“I’m so sorry…” Cat whispered, not sure why she was apologizing as she pried the pile back and slipped in alongside the other woman. She adjusted the heated packets around Kara’s body, hyper-aware of the other woman and the state they were both in. That would have to be dealt with later, as whatever had happened out in the wilds had nearly cost Kara her life; and still might if she didn’t get warm soon. 

Cat shifted beside the other woman, her own body shuddering against the chill of Kara’s skin as she pressed herself against the woman and cocooned the blankets around them. She held the other woman to her, trying to cover her up as much as she could. 

Seconds passed by into minutes, the rain outside still pouring while the fire next to them crackled and spit. Cat nuzzled against Kara’s shoulder, trying to calm her own raging heartbeat while chasing the nagging feeling that Kara needed more help. 

“I’ve asked myself a hundred times if I could do this,” Cat confessed after another long series of moments, focusing on Kara’s shallow breathing while her body continued to shudder every so often. “How willing I could be to allow myself to let you in, knowing it could all end in a heartbeat.” 

Cat searched over Kara’s profile before laying her head down against her shoulder. Her voice barely above a whisper, listening for any sign that Kara might be awake. “If I could put Carter through falling for you. Confiding and learning to trust you to be there where even his own father continues to fail. Knowing deep down there might come a day when you just wouldn’t be able to make it.”

Cat pulled herself closer as Kara shook again. “Not for lack of trying. I know that much about you. You never give up, it’s one of your most infuriating qualities.” Cat swallowed thickly, listening to Kara’s heart beating against her ear. “Please don’t give up now, Kara, you still have so much to do… and not as Supergirl, you’ve done plenty for the world on that front. I’m talking about for you, just you.”

***

Kara felt her body slowly come into awareness, her vision blinded by white before she blinked the light away and sat up. She tested her limbs before moving, finding no pain as she scooted towards the edge of a bed and slowly stood up. 

She moved tentatively to the edge of the room she was in, eyes fixed on the horizon as Krypton stretched out before her, the red sun of Rao’s light warming her skin. 

“What the-“

“I would have hoped you had a better grasp of Earth’s language than profanities and vulgarity Kara.”

Kara startled, turning towards the disembodied voice belonging to the odd shape that formulated out of the nearby shadows. With a few more steps, dark blue robes she knew belonged to her mother swept across the floor as the woman stepped down the short distance into Kara’s bedroom. 

“What… are you- am I-“

“Dying?”

The word made Kara straighten as her mother’s features became crystal clear as she continued towards her. 

“Not exactly. Hallucinating is closer to the idea.”

“Closer to what idea?”

Alura smiled with a breath of a laugh, coming to stand in front of her daughter just to look at her. Kara studied the other woman apprehensively, not sure were she to reach out, if anything would even be there to touch. 

“All life is connected, you know this. Some of us understand it, know it, can even tap into it more so than others through evolution or survival.”

“You’re saying this is real?”

“Not quite. Tangible, but real is relative.”

Kara huffed out a breath, reaching out to touch the other woman, her hand surrounding the warm solidity of Alura’s arm. 

“You seem surprised, little one.”

Kara looked up, scrutinizing her mother’s features, anything she might say failing her. 

“Although I wish the awe I see I your gaze wasn’t so distraught.”

“Distraught? I’m… I’m dying and you don’t think-“

“You’re not dying, Kara, not yet.” 

“Then what am I- we doing here?!”

“Fighting, choosing, giving up, or absolutely nothing.” 

Kara let go of the other woman moving away from her and the window with a noise of frustration. 

“I can’t just do nothing. Earth needs Supergirl, I can’t just-“

“Their world was doing just fine before you. Your cousin paved the way for that, and for you. The House of El is known for its greatness, and he has carried that mantle but you carry our heart, our legacy.” 

Kara turned looking at her mother. 

“Kal-El is a great hero of Earth. A bridge between our two worlds that is certain but you, Kara, you are the last daughter of Krypton. You carry so much more than he ever could.”

“What are you talking about?”

Alura drew in a deep breath, moving closer to her daughter with a wary demeanor. “You said once, a short time ago, faced with far greater odds than right now, that I did not send you to Earth to fall in love, to have children, to live. If that is truly what you believe my intentions were, then I failed you.”

Kara felt her chest cave with Alura’s words, seeing the fire behind her eyes with her convictions. Kara had convinced herself of that to save Earth from her own people, from Indigo and-

“Why? Why did you send me away at all?”

“Because I wanted you to live Kara. To hope against all odds, no matter what. To give you a chance at whatever you could manage to put your heart into after we failed you.” 

Alura set her hands along Kara’s shoulders, watching her intently. “I’m so proud of you, more than you’ll ever know, but Kara, being a hero is not the only thing you are capable of. You deserve so much more and I need you to know that.” 

Kara swallowed hard, the vision of her mother turning to a fluid haze before she blinked the tears in her eyes away. 

“Now listen to me and listen well. You have a choice, many in fact, but they have to be yours. They have to be things you want, not things you’ve convinced yourself are right.” 

Kara felt her chest tighten, along with Alura’s grip on her. 

“Whatever you choose will not be easy.” Alura reached up then, caressing Kara’s face as she struggled with understanding. “Just know they’re yours to make, even if you choose to stay here.”

Kara thought of her sister, her Aunt, her cousin, her friends and others back at the DEO and CatCo. She thought of how easy it would be to just stay, to linger here in the place she started, a place that grew more and more elusive to her the more time passed. Her hardships on Earth growing up into the woman she was now, tangled with the memories of a childhood that she took for granted. 

“Would you be here with me?” Kara asked with a broken edge to her voice. 

Alura smiled genuinely, sadness touching her eyes. “I’m not really here, but you knew that already didn’t you, my little one?”

“I don’t understand.”

“I’m just a fragment, a beacon, something that makes sense to your mind right now enough to touch.” Alura drew Kara to her, wrapping her up in a fierce hug. “Tell me, Kara, would I honestly be here, alone, if I had already gone to Rao’s embrace?”

Kara felt the world pitch on its axis, her arms tightening around her mother as her own body grew heavy and stiff.

“Don’t be scared, my Kara, you are not alone,” Alura whispered against her ear, holding Kara tightly. “Rao has blessed you, whether or not you believe it. I just wish I could meet the one who has captured so much of your heart.” 

Kara closed her eyes tightly, the dull ache she felt crawling up her body doubling in intensity and turning her vision white all over again. 


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Friday!

Kara sucked in a deep breath, her lungs burning from the effort until she came into herself on a sputter. Her whole body responded, sore muscles seizing tight with warning as her nerves sent lightning across her veins. Getting hit by a truck would be more pleasant as she tried for another breath, feeling the sharp angles of pain lance through her midsection. Her hands flexed slowly, her grip weak as she curled her fingers around soft down and warmth. 

Her body shivered roughly, threatening to curl her frame inward. She felt the weight of something on top of her, her own body drawing on that warmth as the void of darkness slowly peeled away from her. Cat pushed aside layers of blankets, leaving her wanting that elusive warmth, her hands grasping for it in vain. 

Kara tried to talk, her throat raw and her voice a raspy wraith of its usual tone. 

“You’re okay…” Cat soothed, her own relief flooding her body as she urged the heavier layers off of the two of them not wanting to sky rocket Kara’s temperature too fast for fear of making her sick or more dehydrated than she probably was. 

Kara replied, bleary-eyed and unfocused. 

“I wish I could understand you,” Cat whispered as Kara continued to babble in what Cat suspected was her native language. Her mind added salt to the wound with the longing of how Cat had always wanted to hear it spoken to her but under altogether different circumstances. 

“Cat…”

That she understood, with the unsteady rasp of her name and her initial fear of hurting Kara, Cat stretched herself out over the other woman as carefully as she could manage. Kara shivered harder against her and Cat had no idea if it resulted from her body fighting the drop in her core temperature or, if Kara was injured worse than she showed.

Kara gasped sharply, coughing against the rush of oxygen as her skin pricked to attention with the sensation of Cat’s body pressing and moving against her. She wanted to cry, to shout, maybe even pass out again as Cat’s hands tangled into her hair and enveloped the back of her head with the utmost tenderness. 

“Hey, it’s all right. I’ve got you. Okay? You’re safe now.” Cat tried, following the tears that filtered down from the corners of Kara’s eyes before the other woman squeezed them shut tight. 

Kara maundered on, her hands uncertain of where to go even as she tugged at the single blanket around them. Sensing her distress, Cat shifted slightly, reaching down to guide Kara’s hands up and between them, sucking in a sharp breath at the chill that met her skin before she laid back out over the other woman. Kara closed her eyes, part of her longing to sink back into the depths of oblivion. 

“Kara,” Cat tightened her fingers within Kara’s hair, kneading at her scalp. “Kara… open your eyes, darling.” Cat raised her head up slightly, prompting Kara’s features back to center. “What were you trying to say?”

Kara’s eyes rolled before she pressed them shut again, struggling through the haze, chasing after Cat’s voice. “ _You-you-you could ha-have been hurt…”_

Despite Kara again replying in Kryptonese, Cat listened intently and when the other woman’s hands moved, her breath caught while her abdomen involuntarily tensed with the more intimate touch. Kara struggled to pull her hands free, her finite motor control still lacking even with the worst of the chill there gone, before they surrounded Cat’s sides as if she were some kind of tether to consciousness. 

_“Alex would have found me…”_ Kara said as earnestly as she could muster amidst the grappling of her body working to pull her back under. 

“Kara, whatever you did-“

 _“No, you ha-have to li-li-listen. Cat, if you got hurt or s-s-swept away…”_ Kara’s eyes brimmed with tears again, as Cat tried to understand her. _“I don’t know wh-what I would have done.”_

“Easy Kara, you’re getting upset. Just breathe and slow down.” Cat tried, recognizing that Kara did not understand she was pleading in her own language. 

Kara reached up with quivering fingers, charting the swell of Cat’s mouth. 

“I c-could have lo-lost you, Cat.”

Cat swallowed hard, knowing Kara was in the worst possible state right now and that anything she did, or even thought of doing, would color everything between them moving forward. Cat reached up, reverently surrounding Kara’s fingers firmly within her grasp, wanting nothing more than to kiss them and Kara. 

“Not a chance,” Cat whispered, drawing Kara’s hand between them and holding her against the flat of her chest. 

Kara looked upward, the confusion and disorientation gradually abating and giving way to her exhaustion. This was not how she ever intended a moment like this and somehow felt as if she had ruined any chance she might have had with Cat. Kara’s eyes strayed closed again, her conflicted emotions toying with her exhaustion, her body convulsed again, causing both women to shiver. Cat moved without thinking, tucking the blanket they shared tighter around them, the fire sheltering them from the overall damp chill from the rainstorm outside. 

“Stay awake, Kara, just a little longer, okay?”

Kara refused to look back at Cat, her mind further subjecting her to the reality that she was utterly naked and Cat near equally so. Her nerves misfired with the smooth caress of the other woman’s skin striving to drive away the cold Kara still felt at her core as Cat spread over her once she had secured the blanket covering them. Cat looked back at her with the single hum of Kara’s response. The other woman was averting her gaze, almost as poorly as she had forever ago now, when they were getting ready for bed. The immediate apprehension on the other woman’s behalf made Cat profoundly aware that Kara had finally discerned the state they were both in. With renewed effort, Cat guided Kara’s features back to her, never looking away until Kara’s gaze eventually gravitated to her. 

“Ask me a question.” Cat breathed, feeling Kara still beneath her.

Kara frowned in confusion, suspecting that she was losing it again as she searched the other woman’s features. Cat hovered above her, her expression genuine with a dash of her office-grade assuredness. “Wh.. I... don’t-“

“It’s your turn. Ask me a question.”

“Are… are angry with me?”

“My God, Kara no.” Cat hugged Kara tighter, thumb tracing along her jawline where she cradled her head. “You scared me, not going to lie, but there is no anger around any of that.” 

“O-okay…” Kara exhaled, her body shaking again as she tucked her hands between their bodies once more. 

Cat shook her head with incredulity, smoothing fire dried curls from Kara's face. “Ask me another question.” 

Kara wobbled her head with a silent no, the impulse to relax trickling through her again. “Your tur-rn.”

Cat let out a wisp of a laugh. “I insist.”

As Kara tried to make a sound of mock amusement her lungs seized, driving another small fit of coughs to escape her. Cat pushed up to allow her more room to breathe and Kara’s hands grasped her fiercely; powers or not, when Kara was determined, she had one hell of a grip. 

“I’m not going anywhere," Cat said calmly, "not unless you want me to, I swear.” 

Kara watched her apprehensively for a long moment before nodding around another muffled cough as she relaxed back into the pillowy refuge. Her next inhale stuttered as Cat slowly eased her weight back down, refusing to look away even after she settled.

Kara shifted slightly allowing her body to relax with Cat’s weight as the woman’s promise lingered between them.

“Are… are you leave-leaving CatCo?”

Cat should have seen that coming, she had an inkling towards it earlier but figured the moment had slipped past them, until now. She drew in a slow breath as Kara stared at her intently. 

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have-“

“I don’t know honestly,” Cat interrupted as Kara quieted. “Olivia offered me a job.”

“The Pres-President offered you a job? Wh-why didn’t you just lead with th-that earlier?”

Cat smirked faintly, fingers toying with a strand of Kara’s hair. “Because you and the others would have told me to take it and I’m not sure I want to.”

“What job?” 

Here Cat thought it would be a fight to keep Kara awake. “Press secretary.”

“Wow…” Kara breathed with another suppressed cough before dragging in a deep breath to try and calm the spasm of her lungs. The last thing Kara wanted was a CatCo without Cat, but how many times was one asked by the President to come work for them."You should."

“Kara-“

“Really… y-you’d be amaz-amazing.” 

“You’re bias.” _'And naked, and in a very compromised position for us to be having this conversation.'_ Cat's inner voice chided before it was shoved away. Kara was awake, she was clearly powerless but Cat would take that over the alternative any second of the day.

“May-maybe, but the White House.”

Cat nodded, “I know. I would have to step away from CatCo, Carter would have to transfer. I'd have to move across the country… leave you.” Cat felt Kara stiffen beneath her, drawing her attention back down. 

“Do...do you want it?” Kara whispered, holding her breath.

“Yes.” Cat said honestly, but she wanted something else, something more too, and now was not the time for those kinds of confessions. 

“Then wh-what are you waiting for?”

“Plenty,” Cat stated and Kara felt the full weight of the word as easily as she felt Cat’s body on top of her. 

“Don’t-don’t hold back, it’s not you.”

“It’s not that simple Kara.”

Kara nodded a few times over. “Si-simple doesn’t m-mean easy.”

“That’s ironic coming from you.”

“True though.”

Cat gave a small nod, wondering when Kara had become so insightful. 

“Cat?” Kara’s voice was quiet again, as if whatever thought had crossed her mind was precious and sacred. 

“Yes darling?”

“If you knew, w-hy didn’t you say some-thing?”

Cat frowned, searching Kara’s features. “Know what?”

“That I… I’m-“

Cat set a finger to Kara’s mouth, keeping her from openly revealing herself just yet. “We both know I haven’t handled myself appropriately when it came to… that.”

“What about-“

“All I know," Cat pressed, "is that you stormed out when I got, personal, and when I went to find you, the platforms had given way because of the storm.” 

Kara swallowed hard, her eyes burning again with unshed tears as the two stared at each other. 

“You don’t owe me anything, certainly not _that_. Understand?” Kara nodded as she pulled in another breath. 

“Now,” Cat cleared her throat, pushing her own emotions back down. “Do you think you could try something to drink?”

“I want to sleep.”

“I know, but you can’t, not yet okay? Soon.”

Kara pouted slightly even as Cat caressed the side of her face. 

“Try for me?”

Kara gave a small nod after another minute, reluctant to let Cat go as she started to move. 

“I’ll be right back, I promise.” 

“Okay.”


	15. Chapter 15

Alex paced back and forth slowly, her mind running in a million different directions at what to do. They were already stretched thin due to the natural disaster protocols but Kara with her powers stranded in some woodland area wasn't something she could just sit on. 

Winn was still monitoring Kara's comms, but only if she tried to contact them. Listening in otherwise was a no go, on Alex's strict order. 

Various monitors were displaying the overall devastation across the mid and northern coastlines; from mudslides and floods to a variety of compromised structures within National City and beyond it. The whole world was watching now and the running tagline that was starting to run in the early morning hour was the whereabouts of Supergirl. 

They had done what they could, even Clark had called to offer a hand and while Alex had been grateful, she was just as equally apprehensive.

With a rush of air she turned, her knees going just a little weak as Astra glided in from the sky entrance and landed effortlessly. Alex was absolutely certain she would never get over that. 

"How is it out there?" Alex asked, watching Astra pluck a bit concrete debris from her suit. 

"I have stabilized the fault, there should be no more aftershocks. At least none of magnitude above a point three."

"How accurate."

"You have told me to be so for everyone else's benefit."

Alex tucked back a smirk, crossing her arms over her chest as the pair made their way back to the main dais. 

"Where is J'onn?"

"With Alpha team downtown."

"And Kara, when is she due back? I would have thought my niece would have beat me to the fault."

Alex drew in a slow breath, looking over the main body cam feeds of each of her teams littered throughout National City rendering aid. 

"Kara… was helping with the efforts up north." Alex said, not exactly lying but not telling the whole truth either. She stepped up to the console, pulling up feeds from live cams near the dam Kara had mentioned. Her handy work was still in place, thank God. 

"Impressive." Astra leaned close, nearly nuzzling Alex with the utter disregard to her personal space. "What aren't you telling me Brave One?"

Alex cut her eyes over to the other woman who only now straightened away before her gaze drifted back to the waterlogged video feeds of the Copper Gate Dam. 

"Sheblewherpowers."

Astra fixed her gaze on Alex to the point that Alex swore she felt heat crawling up her neck with some kind of low level heat vision. 

"She what?"

Alex stepped over, keeping her voice down due to the surrounding agents. "With the dam, she blew her powers and… Cat sort of rescued her but-"

"A feline in that situation is not capable unless it were from Krypton."

"No. I mean, Kara's other boss. Cat Grant."

"Her unattainable paramore?"

"Keep your voice down."

"I am impressed." Astra said as if that answers everything before turning away and heading for the sky entrance again. 

Alex rushed forward, blocking Astra's path with a hand to her chest. "Hold on a minute soldier."

Astra kept moving, causing Alex to slide back along the floor. "Kara is in trouble, maybe injured, and must be brought back here."

"Yes, okay, yes she should but it's more complicated than that." 

Astra stopped, tipping her head at Alex. "There is no complication. Kara is in danger, exposed to the planet’s elements-"

"And the treatments we've carried out with you and her to boost your immune systems in that event should kick in."

"She cannot make it here, these people are counting on her. Her absence will create a void and with that void worry and-"

"J'onn can help us on that front."

"Not if he is downtown."

"Astra there are other things to consider, we've talked about this. She doesn't have the luxuries you do-"

"I understand the complexities of having to blend in. Especially with Kara and Kal-El and the way this world works"

Alex stepped into Astra's space, laying both hands against Astra's own house crest. "Then you'll understand when I say she is in the company of others who don't know she's Supergirl. People she has to work with everyday, including her other boss."

Astra shifted her jaw, looking down at Alex's hands then back up. "If you believe that influential woman, with a voice to rival that of the voice of Rao on Krypton, does not know Kara is Supergirl, I may have to take you to medical to have your brain waves analyzed."

Alex smiled ever so faintly. "The expression is have your head examined."

"Yes, precisely."

"Then you understand."

Astra nodded before moving forward again. 

"Wait, you said-"

"I understand we have to uncomplicate a situation that-"

"You can't just-"

"I can-"

"WE, can't just rush in there and go get her Astra. Not with the subtlety of a Mack truck that you seem to have right now."

"Alexandra, there is no subtlety with a large diesel powered-"

"Director!" 

Astra turned as Winn rushed up towards them, his phone in hand while Alex looked equally jolted by the sudden outburst.

"Yes?"

"James just sent us a heads-up."

"A heads-up for what?" Alex asked with a stern edge, her hands slipping from where they still rested on Astra's chest but not before grabbing at her arm when the woman made to move again. 

"The Planet's breaking story, someone at CatCo leaked where Cat and her employees were."

"Okay…" 

The two women looked at him expectantly. 

"The repaired dam? They've got Supergirl on some kind of security camera feed from last night… and we know some of the locals were only able to get out because of whatever else she did up there."

"And now they're telling the press…"

Winn nodded, bracing for impact as Alex swore behind clenched teeth. 

"James said they weren't going to run anything initially because well, standard reasons and something about non-disclosures but now the board at CatCo is breathing down his neck because obviously they're being scooped and-"

"They don't want to get caught between that and some kind of liability scandal."

Winn looked confused. "Okay sure...but, other networks are picking it up now and James says he's fielding calls which can only mean-"

"Every news outlet in a hundred-thousand mile radius is going to send people up there."

"Now this is complicated." Astra said as Alex looked over at her. 

" _Now_ this is complicated? Now... nope y'know what just…" Alex drew in a deep breath, pinching at the bridge of her nose. "Winn I need contact with search and rescue up there, and pull another set of monitors up with the news feeds for the area. This is going to be a nightmare."

"I'm on it."

"If you had not hindered-"

"Astra… If I hadn't stopped you, half the world would have footage of you scouring the countryside for Kara…"

"Mountain-"

"Point is…" Alex snarked as Astra held back a knowing smirk. "Trying to get Kara out, along with everyone else she's with just got a lot harder. The fact the area has footage of Supergirl, is broadcasting that she's out there somewhere and how would she have known to be in -that- area if the worst part of the Earthquake was closer to National City?"

"Her para-"

"Exactly. As of the rumors weren't bad enough for us to contend with." This was so not good. "Someone get J'onn on my comms now and prep another team."

"So you are going to let an entire team waste time getting to them?"

"I'm buying us and Kara time to figure out a better strategy."

"Ma'am," Vasquez shouted from a nearby console. "I have J'onn on comms."

"He's not going to like this."

**\-------**

Cat was just along the edge of sleep, finally secure in the fact Kara would wake up when prompted enough to let herself relax. She was sore and exhausted but knew inherently it was nothing by comparison to the woman curled against her. 

After getting a small bit of food, namely crackers and half a power bar, along with a kettle of hot tea in her, Kara had improved enough beyond needing Cat's body heat to maintain her core temperature. 

They had talked a little more about trivial things sparked by more light hearted questions before Cat suggested they get dressed and try to move around a bit. Not only to keep Kara awake but to ensure she hadn't broken anything or worse. 

When night transitioned into the earliest of morning hours Cat had given in and allowed Kara to settle. Which was where they found themselves now. 

Cat was bracketed against the corner of the couch, legs limply wrapped around Kara's body where she laid back against the other woman. Kara had on two layers of clothes to Cat's one for warmth, along with the thin fleece blanket that surrounded both of them. 

Kara was fast asleep, her breathing deep and even with the barest rattle on some of her deeper breaths. Cat knew it enough from when Carter was sick and had scoured the first aid kit for immune boosters before allowing Kara to really doze off. 

Cat had one arm draped over Kara's shoulder, her hand pressed to the flat of her chest as if her crest still resided there, while the other was aligned with the couch propping her own head up as the full depth of sleep tugged away at her. 

Neither of them hearing the voices just outside, or the first tentative knock. 

"Their fire’s still going. Do you think they're alright?" Pip asked, huddled under the overhang of Cat's cabin with the others.

"They're probably dead asleep, I know all this rain drumming against our cabin knocked my ass out." Leon stated. 

"Nevermind the fresh air and blindfolded running around." Marin added. 

"Okay, all of us here is a bit overwhelming." Helen offered with a terse tone. 

"Overwhelming? Seriously? Half our site’s been washed out, we’re thirty feet or whatever in the air and in the middle of a lake! That's overwhelming!" Hunter piped up as Orin put a hand on their shoulder to calm them down a bit. The two exchanged a knowing look that Helen was oblivious to as she turned back to Cat's door and knocked again.

The rest of the group looked between themselves, each seeming to know what the other was thinking. They were safe, couldn't be better. Supergirl was just beyond the door and with enough obfuscation on Kara’s, and maybe even Cat's part, she'd rescue them by breakfast. Assuming she was even in there and not already out saving people in the area with them as the final pitstop. 

“Okay, everyone needs to go back to their cabins,” Helen said loud enough to make a few in the group jump. “It’s wet, and dangerous with the rising water beneath us.” 

Helen was trying not to show how scared she actually was. Not only for herself, but the others with her. This entire endeavor had gone from annoying to troublesome to a nightmare in an instant. There was a very good possibility that they would be stuck here for a while given the remoteness of their location. Their lower campsite was probably miles away, and it wasn't as if there were any kind of watercraft to aid in their own escape. It was still raining, which meant even more water and Cat wasn't answering her damn door. If it was this bad where they were, Helen could only imagine what it was like in lower lying areas that were far easier to reach by local rescue efforts or good samaritans.

Helen centered herself despite the panic crawling up her spine. She needed to tell Cat, and was honestly surprised it wasn’t the other way around right now. She also needed to keep the others calm, and safe and-

“I want you all to gather everything from food to blankets and whatever else you can find if we have to wait it out or, worst case, have to make our own way out.”

The group of five waited a beat or two before quietly agreeing, flashlights in hand and rain coats pulled close, they carefully headed across the bridgeway that linked their cabins together. Helen waited for each of them to get into their cabins before turning again to Cat’s door. 

Cat was jolted awake with a loud bang followed by Helen’s voice near the door jamb calling her name. Kara startled just after Cat, grasping at the woman, poised and ready to jump in front of whatever was coming at them. 

"It's the others," Cat relayed, rubbing absently at Kara's chest to soothe her nerves before the pair untangled themselves. 

Cat made for the door while Kara wrapped the blanket they had shared around her shoulders. 

Helen slipped inside, careful not to drip everywhere. "Cat, we're in trouble." 

"I know." 

Kara fixed her glasses onto her face, slowly edging closer as she tightened the blanket over her shoulders. Just looking at Helen and her state made her shiver again. 

"Something's happened further up from where we are," Helen continued, Cat's response not registering. "The ground's flooded. Looks like it took out the lower landings."

"I know," Cat repeated as Helen barreled on, shedding her jacket as she made her way over to the kettle on the stove and grabbed a cup for herself. Not even bothering to see what may or may not have been made. It didn't matter, it was something to focus on and it was warm and dry. 

"Fucking liability is what it is. Going to get ahold of Lane as soon as possible to get legal all up in this place's business. You're gonna own it if I have anything to say, if- _when_ we get back."

Cat and Kara exchanged looks and Cat set a hand on Kara's shoulder to let her know this was not her fault. That despite Kara's expression, she was not responsible for being incapable of getting them all out right now. 

"There's ten feet of water or more beneath us, and I've got the others gathering supplies. Thank God no one was hurt or these treehouses weren't compromised." Helen took a sip of warm tea, letting it soothe her frazzled nerves. 

"Helen-"

"Listen Cat, we've been friends a long time and when I say this is dire I'm being obscenely reserved in my assessment. We might not even get out of here for days."

"I know." Cat said again and her words stopped Helen in her tracks. 

The other woman made a slow turn as Kara actually stepped back while Cat stood ahead of her. 

"You know? The hell ' _you know'."_ Helen said, smacking her mug down with a rattle on the small counter. "You're a poster child for morning people, all glowy and, and collected, you haven't even been outside!"

"I have and I know we're in a very dangerous situation but we're better off than most."

Helen looked between the two women, unable to comprehend Cat's words for a minute. 

"When were you-?"

"I... we… were doing the follow-up assignments from Ronnie and it got too personal and I stepped outside to get some air." Kara interrupted, pulling Helen's attention. 

Kara looked worse than Helen could ever recall seeing her. Her skin was pale, her hair a curled, disheveled mess that reminded Helen of being at the beach of all things and her voice had a raspy quality that grated along Helen's last nerve.

Helen's eyes widened and Cat stepped a little closer for fear she was going to topple over. 

"Were you out there when-"

"She's alright." Cat interjected, seeing the color drain from Helen's face. "We're alright. The landing gave way just as I went to check on her and she's fine."

"You could... you could have drowned or been swept away, Kara. What if Cat hadn't been there? I told you not to just wander-"

"Helen-"

"And _you_!" Helen's voice dropped with an accusatory lilt. "You didn't think to get me? Or anyone else?! You're not God Cat, no matter what your press says!"

Kara straightened and stepped closer until Cat grabbed her arm, holding her still. 

"Helen, I need you to breathe okay?"

"Breathe? I am breathing but you'll have to forgive me if my reaction to having to deal with the plausible death of an employee and possibly the owner is less than graceful." Helen _was_ breathing, just too fast and too hard and her vision was starting to haze. 

"Kara…" Cat warned but Kara just nodded, edging closer as she watched Helen waver. "Helen, just slow down okay, you're having a panic attack, it's perfectly natural right now-"

"Panic attack? Panic attack?! The both of you could've died, we all still could we-we're in the middle of fucking nowhere. It-it-its still raining and the water, Cat these people, my people, they're not go-go-going to find us."

"There she goes." Cat said as her and Kara rushed forward while Helen promptly passed out. 

"Why is she so heavy?" Kara strained as she took the brunt of Helen's weight while Cat helped carry the other woman to the couch. 

"She's not, you're just not used to it."

Kara eased Helen down and as she stood she couldn't fight the coughing fit that seized her. Cat was by her side in an instant, gently rubbing her back as Kara fought to breathe.

"Don't do that.." Cat whispered, seeing Kara wipe at her face roughly. "You saved so many people with whatever you did, including us. That's more than enough." 

Kara didn't answer, beyond blaming it on her cough until she nearly choked. Cat urged her to straighten, pushing her arms up so more air could reach her lungs until the worst of it seemed to pass. 

"Don't hold it in." Cat said calmly. "Let your body get it out, and don't you dare blame yourself for any of this." 

Kara nodded, holding her head back as she focused on breathing and not getting any more upset, knowing it would only make this all worse. 

When she finally calmed, Cat set her hands around Kara's face, holding the other woman steady as she stared right into her eyes. 

"I mean it, Kara. We're going to get through this, all of us. Okay?"

"Okay…" Kara rasped, wanting nothing more than to wrap Cat up and anchor herself to the woman. 

Cat smoothed her thumbs across Kara's cheeks, sweeping the last of her tears aside. "Okay. Now, can you help me with her or do you need more time?"

Kara shook her head, the sudden overwhelming urge to kiss the other woman coloring her throat. "I-I'm good now…"

"Good," Cat searched Kara's eyes for another moment. "I'm only going to say this once, because you need to hear it. _I_ need you Kara, here, with me now. We are stronger together and we both need that strength to get ourselves and everyone here out of this."

Kara felt her chest swell with the words. It wasn't the surge she needed for her powers to kick back in but it was a start, that was certain. 

"I'm here."

Cat smiled softly, wishing she wasn't so afraid to just follow through with the sudden want to kiss the other woman in gratitude if nothing else. Instead Cat reluctantly let her hands fall from Kara's features only to have Kara grab one of her hands a squeeze firmly. 

"What're we going to do with her?"

"I'm tempted to give her a valium." 

Kara actually chuckled before biting back a cough. "Ow, oh don't make me laugh."

"Don't be so damn cute and I won't."


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Small note while General Danvers is implied, they're still dancing around each other just fyi

Helen came to after a few more minutes, staring up at Cat and Kara's looking faces. 

"How…" Helen swallowed, soothing the dryness of her throat. "How long-"

"Ten minutes... give or take," Cat answered, moving back as Helen slowly sat up with a gentle pull from Kara. 

"I'm sorry I just-"

"Don't need to explain anything. This is me you're talking to." Cat said, offering Helen her mug. 

Helen took the tea gratefully, the pounding of her head was less of an intrusion from a moment ago but only because of the clinging, adrenaline-fueled fallout her whole body was contending with now. 

"What're we going to do?"

Cat glanced at Kara who pressed her lips together a moment before a thought struck her. 

"My sister… she… uh, she's in the FBI."

"Alexandra right?" Helen asked. "She was one of the agents that questioned me about Les... some things." 

Cat shifted her jaw a bit with that memory while Kara pushed the reminder of Leslie aside. 

"We have the sat phone and depending on how bad this all really is, she might be able to get some help. If nothing else it will ensure someone knows we're all still okay right?"

Helen seemed to perk up a bit at that, taking another hearty swallow of tea. 

"It'll give them our exact location." Cat offered, trying to tack on as much hope as possible against their odds. "The signal should provide global coordinates."

Helen rose a brow while Kara looked equally impressed. 

"What? I had one when I was at the Planet for some of my assignments."

*******

Alex was listening to the others as they threw out ideas for getting Kara back to National City when her phone suddenly rang, pulling the attention of the room. 

She glanced at the screen before accepting the call and stepping aside. 

"Danvers."

" _ Alex _ ." 

"Kara," the rest of the room had her full attention with that. "Why-"

" _ We're okay, I promise." _ Kara pushed through as Alex slowly caught on to why she wasn't contacting her over her comms. 

"I'm here with… everyone else." Alex warned as she put her phone on speaker. 

" _ We, were hoping you could track this signal? It's a sat phone, there's eight of us out here." _

Winn was quick to pull up Alex's phone, finding the broadcast coordinates along a map to try and pinpoint their location. 

"We've got you now," Alex assured, knowing Kara wasn't alone and that whoever was with her might overhear. 

"Kara that entire area is flooded, it looks like Supergirl slowed down the worst of it and allowed the surrounding areas time to evac." Alex knew she was adding that last bit for Kara's own peace of mind and ignored the odd look thrown at her. 

" _T_ _ hank God." _

"The problem is, where you're located is really dense. Which makes trying to get to you from the air difficult without-"

" _ We don't want to put any kind of rescue crew in danger trying to get through the trees," _ Kara stated. She and Alex seemed to be having a different conversation than what was actually being relayed. 

"We can deploy a special two-man team, we have those resources." Alex looked at Hank and Astra. "But, fair warning, people know that Cat was up there and what Supergirl has already done.” 

Kara didn't say anything for a minute. She knew the optics of Hank and Astra rushing in to save them all when others might just as equally need them would look preferential at best. " _ That's not going to work then." _

Alex looked around the room, looking for more ideas from anyone who was willing to speak up. 

"We're trying to contact local rescue crews now, it's possible, a team might be able to reach you by boat but with the storm in that area still pounding down on everything-"

" _ It makes it just as dangerous _ ," Kara said with a somber note. 

"We can get you out."

Kara was quiet again before telling Alex to hang on. 

The group heard muffled voices and a bit of static before another voice came over the line. 

" _ Agent Scu… Danvers… _ "

Alex straightened a bit, hearing Cat's voice. "Miss Grant."

" _ Give me something to tell my people. I understand the situation is… difficult, but I need to give them  some kind of hope to hold onto here  ." _

Alex took in a deep breath, glancing at Hank and Astra again. "We're trying to locate Supergirl, while everyone else is trying to find you."

" _ How bad _ ?" Cat asked, referring to the news coverage that was undoubtedly occurring with what Kara had managed to tell her before the took control of the phone. 

"Global."

Cat swore under her breath. " _ Is it just us?" _

"No, the flooding up there was a result of a bigger problem."

" _ Bigger problem?" _

“There was an earthquake just off the coast last night which has complicated a lot of other things." Alex clarified without giving too much away.

" _ Is Winslow there?" _

The man straightened as eyes turned to him. "Yes… yes, ma-er Miss Grant I'm here."

" _ Good, tell James he can put out exactly where I am, that we've been in contact with rescue crews and that's it." _

"Oh… okay..." Winn looked at the others in the room in confusion. 

" _ Agent Danvers _ ?"

"Yes?"

" _ Figure out whatever you need to do concerning Supergirl, we're not going anywhere. We have food and shelter and we're about thirty feet above the ground here. Other people need those resources." _

"Miss Grant you can't just make that kind of executive decision-"

" _ I just did. We have a line of communication. We are all as safe as we can be and from what I gather, it's not for anyone who might attempt to rescue us beyond some very special and newsworthy intervention." _

Alex looked to the others, Cat wasn't wrong. They were already fielding enough with Supergirl being awol again in this kind of crisis within National City alone. If they sent Astra and Hank that would not only bring about more questions from the group Kara was with, but any news outlet in their area that caught any glimpse of the two and their rescue would make everyone's lives more complicated. 

"Stay safe, keep dry and if anything changes don't hesitate to reach out to us. We'll keep monitoring your situation and if the weather clears or some other operation makes its way towards you we'll let you know."

" _ Understood _ ."

The phone rustled again and Kara came back on the line. " _ I'm sorry… _ "

"You have no need for apologies Kara," Astra stated before Alex could speak. "As Alexandra said you have saved many lives, given hope to others who may also be trapped like you. We will get you out, I swear it on Rao."

" _ Okay _ ."

"Kara, just stay safe. That's what we need you to do. I'll contact you again with more details."

*******

Kara said her goodbyes before looking back to the other two women with her. 

"So, how long?" Helen asked with an edge of anxiousness.

"There are bigger problems than just a flood."

"Such as?"

"An earthquake, with everything that's taking up and the surrounding storm here, the rescue teams can't get to us right now."

Helen swore as Cat and Kara looked at one another. 

"We have to tell the others, prep them for-"

Before Helen could finish her sentence the door burst open and a drenched Marin looked frantic. 

"What in the hell-"

"Hunter and Pip are trapped."

"What?!" The three women collectively shouted just as Orin came in behind her. 

"One of the trees nearby uprooted from the pull of the flood or something, took part of the bridge to the last cabin out. Pip and Hunter are still inside but we can't reach them. 

Helen was up immediately, while Cat grabbed for her shoes and a jacket. Not before grabbing Kara's shoulder when she started to do the same. 

"No, you stay here."

"Cat, I can help."

"Not right now, I want you to gather everything you can, supplies, blankets, whatever just like the others did."

"Cat-"

Cat stepped right up into Kara's space, hand at her chest, pulling her attention as she urged her back from the others. 

"Please, I know what you can do,” Cat said in a quiet tone, knowing the others were looking on despite whatever was going on outside, “but you're compromised and we don't have the kind of things we need to keep you from getting sick or worse if we're going to be here a few days."

Kara started to protest again when Cat reached up to touch her face. 

"I just got you back.” 

That made Kara’s chest swell with warmth, tempering the fight against Cat’s demands of her. 

“If I need you, I won't hesitate, I swear, but you have to let us try first."


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: this chapter is very intense and contains strong language

“Alex…” Kara said into her comm, watching from the window as best she could over the others. “Alex damn it-“

“ _What is it, Kara I’m here.”_

“One of the cabins has been cut off.”

“ _What_?!”

“An uprooted trees took out part of the bridge because of the floodwater and two people are stranded while the rest are trying to come up with a plan to help.”

“ _Where are you?”_

“Gathering supplies, Cat told me to stay put because-“

“ _You’ll get sick, or worse.”_

“Thanks.”

“ _Kara, I know you.”_ Alex tried, knowing exactly how Kara felt _._ There were countless times, in far less dire circumstances, and others that were far worse, where she herself stood back and watched Kara save the world. Unable to help beyond just being some kind of silent sentinel. _“I know the hero in you beyond Supergirl. You’d put yourself right at the front of that situation and you can’t do that right now.”_

Kara let out a dark sigh, feeling small and helpless. “I know.” She might claim to know, to understand, but she didn’t have to like it. “Where’s Astra? How fast can she get here?”

_“She can’t.”_

“What? Why?”

_“After you hung up, I sent her and J’onn, as you, out into the city to pull some of the news from where you all are.”_

_“/unah ifun im/”_ Kara swore under her breath, knowing it was the right thing to do but that the timing was all screwed up. 

_“Just stay calm, you can do this.”_ Alex pressed, wishing she had more to offer than words even she felt were hollow. Only from her own experiences when J’onn or Winn offered her the same sentiments. " _You know you can help in other ways as soon as they’re safe.”_

“I hate this, Alex. I know…” Kara sighed, any attempt at gathering anything lost as she leaned into the window frame. “I know I’ve talked about not wanting my powers before but-“

_“Kara, just breathe. We all have those moments, and we say, think, wish or even pray for things to be different in certain situations. I know I have, and I know you’ll have them too, even after today.”_

“I’m worried.”

_“I would be too.”_

“I mean about Cat.” Kara said as she watched the other woman like a hawk from her current vantage point. 

“ _Sucks to be inspiring, doesn’t it?_ ” Alex stated more than questioned. 

“I think deep down, she’s worse than I am when it comes to being a hero, Alex. She’s just mastered the art of doing it with no one noticing.” 

“ _You notice._ ” 

*******

Cat and the others stood on one side of the bridge while Pip and Hunter were on the other just inside their cabin doorway. The distance between the two sides was too far to jump and there was no way to climb down and around given the rushing water below. 

“Are you two all right?!” Helen shouted as Hunter leaned out further. 

“We’re okay!” Pip yelled back. “Not sure how the hell we’re gonna get out of this though.” He said to Hunter, who by the look of it had no idea either. 

They were surveying the damage the uprooted tree had caused. The bridge between their cabin and Leon and Orin’s was gone, save for one side of the rope banister. What few planks remained swung freely above the rushing current, where they were tangled in the frayed remains of netting that had previously served as the protective railing.

“Where’s Kara?” Hunter asked, seeing everyone but her on the other side. “You don’t think she flew off, do you? That, that’s why Cat didn’t answer before?” 

“I dunno, it’s not like we can just shout out for Supergirl. I mean we could, back at like CatCo but-“

“Yeah, no. Given all this, it’s safe to assume she’s not here and while we _could_ shout, then she’d know we know, and that’s just too much to focus on.”

“Marin, Leon, where’s the rope we had yesterday? The one we were all led around by?” Cat asked, pulling her rain jacket tighter. They were all gonna get sick if they didn’t get out of the rain soon enough. 

“In our cabin,” Orin stated, already making for the structure with Leon right at his side. 

“Get it and find a way to wrap it around something.” 

As the two men rushed off Cat glanced back to her cabin, catching sight of Kara at the window before turning back to her two employees. She couldn't focus on the other woman or her state right now, but she could draw from Kara's strength and example she had always given. 

“I need you two to gather whatever is useful, put it in a bag or something so we don’t leave it behind!”

Pip waved as the two disappeared back in their cabin, frantically gathering all their supplies and whatever else they had found earlier. 

“This thing’s waterproof, or supposed to be, we can shove stuff in here.” Hunter flipped open their suitcase, dumping out the majority of its contents before starting to pack things Pip handed them into it. 

“Throw some extra clothes and any food stuff in plastic bags.”

Leon and Orin hauled the rope out, it was too big to knot but if they wrapped it around one of the supporting branches of their cabin, they could use it like a wench but it would mean holding onto it the entire time. 

“Where the hell is Supergirl,” Orin said under his breath as he and Leon fastened the rope and started to pull it back. 

“Probably off saving everyone at the lodge or something. She’ll be back.”

“Hopefully before we do whatever it is we’re doing.”

Marin came out of her cabin with a small length of rope, offering it to Helen and Cat. “They can tie themselves to both sides with this, just in case-“

“They’re not going to fall.” Helen snapped, causing Marin to shrink back again. 

“Not if we can help it,” Cat offered, glaring at Helen before looking at Marin. “That’s very smart, good precaution.”

Marin nodded as Cat offered her one end. “Take this to the guys, have them secure it and be ready.”

Marin nodded again before taking off. 

“Cat, what the hell are you thinking?”

“That we will get them over here as best we can. If you’re going to snap or pass out again, then get inside somewhere out of the way. Otherwise, pull your big girl pants on and help me.”

Helen ground her teeth, trying to shove aside her growing fear again before edging forward with Cat, grabbing on to her belt for good measure when they reached the mangled edge of their side of the bridgeway. One of the rope rails was still there, which might help them but most of the planks were already washed away. 

After another few moments, Hunter appeared, lugging a suitcase with them. 

“Catch the rope!” Cat directed, before tossing the bulk of the thinner rope towards Hunter who caught it in a bit of a tangle. “Now tie that on and we’ll pull it over.”

Hunter fixed it around the handle and around the suitcase before giving a tug. “Ready!”

“Marin! Pull the suitcase over!”

The woman, along with Leon and Orin, did as instructed and everyone watched horrified as the thing bounced and caught roughly. The hardshell banging against the mangled bridge and under support before being drug upward. 

“What good was that?” Helen asked.

“Process of elimination, we know having them try to swing over on the big rope is a very bad idea now.”

As they hoisted the suitcase onto the other side, Helen grabbed it and undid the rope before passing it back to Cat. 

“Tie yourselves to this okay?”

Hunter and Pip looked at one another as Cat tossed the rope again. 

“Okay, I’m not opposed to shouting out for Supergirl now.” Pip said as Hunter helped him tie the rope around himself like a belt. 

“You can do this. We can do this. You’re going first. I’ll be right here.”

Pip nodded, his hands visibly shaking as he clung to the thinner rope. Hunter moved aside just enough to tie the excess length around the closest support structure. 

“That’s good!” Cat encouraged as Marin brought over the heavier rope. 

“What now?”

Cat held the thicker rope in her hands, knowing this could all fail miserably or barely succeed; and Cat was not one for failure. “We bring them over here. Helen, you and Marin go help the guys, it’s going to take all of us okay?”

Reluctantly, the two women went over, looping the heavier length around their waists like the Leon and Orin already had. 

“Please work, please work…” Orin murmured, wrapping the rope around his arm and tightening the portion around his waist. 

“You’re going to have to wind the rope and weigh it down!” Cat said, watching the two across from her nod. She started to swing the heavier length, building momentum before tossing the thing as hard as she could. Both Hunter and Pip grappled for it, nearly losing hold before pulling the excess up. 

Hunter took the rope and looped it around another support before trailing it back further in order to bind it around a portion of their cabin. 

“I want you all to pull the small rope tight and knot it off!” Cat commanded, watching Pip shake harder as they moved closer to the edge until the rope around their waist was taut. "Marin, give it some slack and then tie your end so he can get across!"

"On it!"

“You’re doing great Pip," Cat encouraged, inching closer to the vacant bridge line. 

“I don’t feel great Miss Grant.”

“Just Cat okay? You’re going to have to trust us to get you over here.”

“Okay. ”

Hunter wrapped the last of the rope through the doorjamb and out the nearby window before coming back out and dropping to the ground. They looped the rope around their waist a couple times before setting their feet against the cabin exterior and taking up the excess around their arm. “Ready!”

“I want everyone to pull the main rope as tight as you can,” Cat said, her heart racing, as she prayed to anyone who would listen to make this work. 

The others followed her instruction, pulling back until the rope was taut. 

“Now Pip, I know you’re scared, but I need you to take ahold of the railing rope with as much as your weight as possible.”

“O-okay.”

“Everybody hold tight!”

Pip grabbed hold of the rope, trying to follow Cat’s instruction. He felt it give for a moment before it seemed to even out and hold his weight. 

“Now, step over the other rope and get your legs around it, you’re going to hang onto the rope rails that are still there and lean out.”

“Shit, here we go,” Orin said, pulling on the rope as he felt Pip’s weight pull. 

“Don’t look at anything but me Pip, just lean forward, you’re going to swing around so hold on tight. I’m right here!”

“Okay... okay... okay... OOOOKAY!”

As Pip leaned his weight forward he pitched around, locking his ankles as gravity pulled him and the rope sank with his weight. His arms wrapped hard around the remaining rope rail, hugging it to his chest. 

“Fuck... oh fuck... _fuck_!”

“Pip just move, we’ve got you! Pull yourself over, with the railing one hand at a time and let your legs slide along the other rope!”

“I can’t! I can’t do this!”

“You can do it Pip!” Marin cheered as the others followed, the four of them leaning hard into the rope to keep it tight. 

“One over the other, keep your legs locked around the other rope and pull!” Cat demanded, watching the man’s instincts kick in and scramble to pull his weight across. 

Hunter pushed hard against the wall, twisting around to lay over the rope as they acted like an anchor, shouting out that Pip was almost there and to keep moving.

Pip struggled and fought, feeling the bounce and shift of the rope as Cat and the others hollered at him to keep going. Just when he thought his arms would give out, hands were around his collar then his belt, yanking him forward in a heap as Cat fell back with her full weight. 

The two collapsed on the bridge as the others whooped and hollered in relief. Pip scrambled onto his hands and knees as Cat turned herself over and pushed up before the man promptly vomited.

“You’re okay, we’ve got you.” Cat soothed, pulling Pip up before hugging him fiercely. “You _fucking_ did it Pip.”

Pip wrapped his arms around Cat, ready to throw up again. “Hunter… we… have to get... we’re not done.”

“I know,” Cat said, pulling back before giving Pip’s shoulders a firm squeeze. “Can you stand?”

Pip nodded, rubbing at his mouth. “I think so.”

“Okay, I need you to help me hold the rope this time. We’re going to have to do this a little differently.”

“Yeah, o-o-kay Cat.”

Cat helped Pip undo the smaller rope from his waist, gathering it up while Pip watched Hunter undo the intricate wrap job of the larger rope on their side. 

“Hunter, I need you to tie yourself off just like Pip did. Once you do that, I want you to wrap the excess of the larger rope around the railing supports on your side and throw it back!”

“Got it!”

Hunter tied themselves off once Cat tossed the thinner rope back before weaving the larger rope between posts while allowing enough excess to throw it back to Cat. 

“How’re we going to do this?” Pip asked, his hands still shaking violently. 

“We’re going to pull this as tight as we can and make the same double rope bridge for Hunter alright?”

Pip nodded, watching Cat wrench the rope around a support on their side that she and Pip could use for leverage. 

“All right, get low, brace your legs on the support and wrap the rope around your body like Hunter did.”

Pip did as instructed, his body felt as if it were bottling up lightning inside it as he did so and when he felt he was good he nodded at Cat. 

Cat took up the rope behind him, wrapping it around another support and herself as the anchor before leaning back. “Pull it tight! Hunter get ready, you’re going to do exactly what Pip did!”

Hunter set their weight against the rope held by the group, their hands wrapping around the bridge rail that remained. “Ready!”

Except they weren’t ready, they were utterly terrified but knew they had to trust in the others to make it across. 

“Lean out and go!” Cat commanded before backing herself up against the tension as hard as she could. 

Hunter leaned into the railing, their legs already locked around the other rope as their body swung around. The rope sagged further than anticipated and Hunter cried out in surprised fear while Pip and Cat struggled to hold on. 

“Move Hunter, just pull!” Orin shouted, feeling the rope giving way on the other side as the others yelled at Hunter that they could make it. 

Cat went down in the next second, slamming into the support as she twisted the rope to try to anchor it despite the impact. 

Hunter screamed again out of sheer panic, the tension on the smaller rope around their waist pulling tight as their grip on the rail rope twisted hard. 

“Pull harder!” Leon demanded, knowing Pip and Cat couldn’t hold on much longer, and Hunter was only a third of the way across. Which now seemed more like half as one rope sagged. 

Cat felt the rope pull at her skin, twisting around her waist and crushing her against the pile-on. Pip cried out in frustration while pushing against the other support pile-on with his legs for more leverage. 

“Don’t let go Pip, don’t let go.” Cat said, trying to lean back against the weight of Hunter’s body as they flailed. Cat shouted for Hunter to keep moving, hoping they were close enough to make it even if the rope gave way when she felt it start to slip through her grasp. 

Cat drew in a breath, Kara’s name primed on her tongue when strong arms surrounded her, twisting against the rope with the weight of their body as she turned into it, giving Cat room to breathe as Kara pressed between her and the support. Kara wrapped her legs around Pip, laying her weight back as she circled her arms around the stretch of the rope and pulled with everything she had left. 

Hunter pulled and fought, grabbing for Pip when they were close enough in a rush to get back on solid ground. 

“I’ve got them!” Pip yelled, and the rope sank again before Kara pulled harder. She felt another hand grab her forearm and made a split-second decision, letting go of the rope and grappling for Hunter’s arm while Pip wrapped around their body. 

“Cat let go!” Kara called out, and the woman released the rope. The weight of it slithered free, as the others fell back in their own heap across the way. 

Hunter, Pip, and Kara collapsed back, tangled up in one another as Cat fell aside from the sudden loss of tension. The others nearby scrambled to get up, keeping a tight hold of each other just in case as they rushed over. 

“I am never going on another fucking work trip again!” Hunter exclaimed as he and Pip helped each other up on wobbly legs before Marin wrapped them up. Leon and Orin were next to join before Pip yanked Helen in. 

It was a mix of adrenaline, tears and sky-high emotions as the group checked the two over and threw out hugs or slaps on the back that were just a little too hard but certainly not unwelcome. 

Kara coughed and sputtered, turning on her side as Cat crawled over to her. Holding her head up and telling her to breathe. The others nearby turned then, hearing the bone-jarring sound before realizing what was happening. 

“Orin, Leon, get the things from your cabin, load it up into ours.” Helen said after a minute, trying to pull the group out of their stunned haze at seeing Kara like that. “Marin, take Hunter and Pip into Cat’s cabin, it’s warm as all get out in there. Get whatever wet clothes you have off and get near the fire.”

“What happened to her?” Marin questioned with a devastated tone.

“She fell in last night, when the lower level was swept away.” 

The others felt the world darken and their odds sink down to a chilling degree as Cat urged Kara to try and sit up as the rain pounded down around all of them. 

“Move it!” Helen barked, making the others jump before she made her way to Cat and Kara. 

“We need to get her inside,” Cat said as Kara tried to wave them off. 

“And get your hands looked at.” Helen said, seeing the red stains along the bridge and Kara's clothes where Cat had touched her. 

“Help me get her up,” Cat said, already pulling Kara’s arm around her shoulders. Helen followed suit on the other side, the pair of them hoisting Kara to her feet as they started for Cat’s cabin. 

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translation: /unah ifun im/ - "Son of a bitch"  
> courtesy of @Argyle_S and their wonderful grasp of Kryptonese
> 
> Everybody, deep breath


	18. Chapter 18

Alex paced along the dais, watching the lower thirds of news outlets still relaying the search for Cat and her employees while a small picture in picture showed an empty podium within CatCo plaza. 

Winn had relayed Cat's message, and they left the rest up to James. Across the main feeds, however, were Astra and Supergirl, or really J'onn as Supergirl, making as public an appearance as they could manage all across the city. Aiding in any form and fashion possible, and the distraction was working. 

Alex's focus, however, was on Kara's last words. Her sister had been relaying what was happening outside the window from the cabin she and the other CatCo employees were at before she couldn't just stand there any longer. 

Alex had caught some of the commotion surrounding whatever rescue attempt being had before she turned her comm off and told Winn to get a signal out to J'onn and Astra. 

"They're in the middle of securing a high rise structure right now and getting people out and away."

Alex swore at herself and this whole situation, of all the times Kara was pulled into something for CatCo. One would think the universe was playing some kind of cruel joke on all of them. 

Winn listened in on Kara's comm, trying to separate voices before clicking it over to a secure channel that only the director could listen in when warranted. 

"Hey, Alex?"

Alex continued to pace, letting out a small sound that Winn could continue. 

"She's back inside with the others. They're all accounted for."

Alex felt a band snap around her shoulders but kept pacing, keeping her emotions in check by segregating them elsewhere in her mind. 

"Relay that to Astra and J'onn," she said with a clipped tone, knowing her voice betrayed her near the end of her statement. 

"James is up."

All the news feeds switched pictures, setting Astra and Supergirl’s current exploits in the small box while various suits from CatCo surrounded the podium that James now stood at. 

"...to thank you all for coming. I'll be brief, as most of you know, our CEO and founder Cat Grant, along with seven other CatCo employees were reported as being lost somewhere near the Klamath mountain range upstate. Before this goes too much further, I would like to clarify the earlier reports as being misleading and ultimately dangerous in their lack of factual reporting."

"That's not going to go over well," Winn said, looking back at Alex, who, despite her pacing, looked on. 

"While it is true a small group of employees had traveled upstate on business, none of them are unaccounted for, nor were they ever lost. Given the most recent events with the earthquake, I will not say that those individuals were not in danger, not unlike the countless others across this city and others."

James looked out over the gathered crowd of press and citizens of National City before continuing.

“I will say, however, that we have been in contact with them, and Miss Grant and I can state they are unharmed and weathering out the storms still situated over that region. They decided that despite the risks, the group was unwilling to put the lives of willing rescue crews within that region in any further danger. Opting instead to shelter in place until the greater threat of flooding and thunderstorms has abated. 

We are in contact with authorities in that region and are working to get in touch with the families of our employees before releasing names or other information at this time. Given additional news reports, I can say after having spoken with Supergirl briefly, that she was indeed in that area shortly after the earthquake and is responsible for saving countless more lives with her efforts there, our own employees included. 

We here at CatCo are like a family, and we ask just as the families do to respect our privacy and to focus efforts on where you're needed most. If permissible, when and if we have more information, we will provide it, in the meantime I ask that you all help where you can and hug your loved ones today.

Now, I invite Mayor Toledano to the podium for additional reports concerning our city and to answer questions. Thank you."

Alex drew in a deep breath at the swell of reporters clamoring to ask James more questions about Cat and the others even as the Mayor stepped up to the podium to quiet them. 

"Not bad, a little wordy, not exactly Cat material but he got the point across, right boss?" Winn turned, expecting to see Alex there only to catch her halfway across the space, headed towards her office. 

Alex shut the door to her office, pulling the blinds before rounding over to her chair and collapsing into it, staring ahead of herself. 

Her mind was racing away with possibilities and contradictions. Plaguing her emotions despite their separatist state, until they gradually seeped back into her awareness again. She crossed her arms tightly over her chest, holding onto fistfuls of her shirt as she leaned back in her chair, pulling a leg up with her. 

James's speech was still lingering in her mind on the periphery as she reached for the phone. 

"Winn, make sure we keep all the families up to date concerning Cat's group and that we'll get them in touch with each other as soon as possible."

" _ You got it…." _

Winn's hesitation made Alex sigh before she added. "I'm fine, just worried like everyone else."

" _ Kara will be fine, she's got Miss Grant." _

_ 'Don't I know it, _ ' Alex thought to herself. "Let me know if there are any issues getting in contact with the families. We'll give Kara and the others another hour or two before trying to set anything up." With that, Alex hung up the phone and settled back into her chair. 

*******

Cat settled behind Kara on the couch after wrapping another blanket around her shoulders. Kara shifted and moved on instinct alone until the two of them were comfortable before Cat passed her a small bowl of soup. 

Leon nudged Orin, who looked up from his own bowl before nudging back and pointing to his soup with his spoon from where they sat wrapped up in their own chairs. Hunter and Pip were on the floor closest to the fire, knees touching and sharing a blanket; both completely lost in the exhaustive need for sustenance. Helen sat on the floor on the other end of the couch while Marin sat in the opposite corner from Kara and Cat. 

The whole of them were sore and worn out, and it carried across the room in an oddly comfortable silence. Supplies had been divided up amongst the group between Cat’s cabin and Helen’s, including whatever wood stores they had left between the remaining three accessible cabins. As the group tried to settle themselves and prepare for whatever else might come their way, they decided that Leon, Hunter, Pip, and Orin would move into Helen and Marin’s cabin while the two of them would settle in with Cat and Kara. 

It wasn’t exactly ideal and made for limited space all around but it also ensured they were all closer together with less possibility of getting separated again should the weather or environment take out more of their bridgeway. 

After helping Kara inside and ensuring she could breathe, Helen excused herself to oversee others. 

Cat was quick to close the sliding door and curtain off the windows before moving to Kara and pulling at her clothes. 

“Are you hurt?” 

Kara shook her head, barely putting up a fight as Cat pulled one arm free and worked her shirt over her head.

“Is anything broken or-” 

Kara coughed a little here and there until she winced away when Cat raised her other arm up. Cat stopped, her hands still staining Kara’s shirt where she held it. 

“I’m okay...” Kara rasped, gingerly freeing her other arm, revealing the coil of rope burn that spiraled around her arm all the way up to her bicep. Cat made a soft sound with the sight of it and Kara looked at her sharply, seeing the swell of tears in Cat's eyes. “You’re not.” 

“I’m-” 

“You’re not fine,” Kara said in earnest, choking back another series of coughs. “We’re all okay… because of you, Cat. Just stop for one minute, please.” 

Cat swallowed hard, the last of her adrenaline slipping away to be replaced with utter exhaustion. Kara’s words hit her harder than they should have, and she felt her chest cave with her next exhale. Kara moved easily, despite her own imbalances and wrapped Cat up, holding her in trembling arms while whispering over and over again that they were safe now. Cat leaned into the other woman, arms hugging Kara’s body weakly as her legs suddenly felt like lead-lined rubber bands. 

Kara eased them both back down on the edge of the bed, waiting for Cat to compose herself before drawing back from her to look her over. “Are you all right? I know the rope caught your hands but are  _ you _ hurt anywhere else?” 

Cat shook her head, taking what felt like her first deep breath since yesterday as she straightened, realizing too late how close the two of them were. Kara’s face was flush again, despite the pale undertone of her skin, and for a split second Cat considered just giving in to the tension she felt coiling around her body and tethered to Kara’s own. 

Kara reached up, pushing wet strands of Cat’s hair from her face as the two just stared at one another, each breath drawing them closer. Cat’s breath caught, and her chest tightened, not so much in anticipation as pain once she flattened her hand against Kara’s chest. Cat frowned at the small veins of lightning lancing across her palm and up her arm as Kara turned her gaze down and her entire expression shifted. 

With the utmost tenderness, despite the trembling of her limbs due to being wet and cold again, Kara eased her hand around Cat’s wrist, drawing her palm away to look at the damage done. She gave a heavy exhale, thumb smoothing over Cat’s knuckles affectionately before she leaned down just enough to place the barest of kisses across the unbroken skin. 

Cat’s eyes drifted closed, feeling the weight of Kara’s lips on her skin far heavier than they could have possibly been. Her fingers curled slightly, her grip weak as she tried to turn her hand over and take hold of Kara’s own. Instead, Kara held her still, wrapping her own shirt around one hand before reaching around Cat’s waist to get the woman’s wet top off her. 

Cat shifted and angled, letting Kara pry the wet material from her before the other woman bound it around her other hand. 

“That should do for now, but w-we need to get out of these clothes,” Kara said carefully moving off the bed, her fingers already curling around Cat’s boot laces. 

“Stop...” Cat whispered and Kara did but refused to look up. If she had to look at Cat this close, this vulnerable, with the world crashing down around them she wasn’t sure she’d be able to stop herself from doing something monumentally stupid. 

Cat pushed out of her own boots, setting her feet square before gingerly unwrapping her hands so that her fingertips could at least touch Kara’s skin. She reached for the other woman tentatively, watching Kara’s eyes close and her shoulders sag as soon as she made contact. 

Kara's features tipped up with the gentle direction of Cat's touch, the heat of each exhale washing over her skin as Cat drew closer. She felt the warm pressure of Cat's lips quivering against her skin, lingering far too long against her forehead. 

Kara drew back ever so slightly, eyes barely opening as she tilted her features higher and forward. Their lips brushed against each other briefly, sending a spark that soared into an inferno with Cat's sudden intake of air. Fueling the fire that erupted through her chest as she leaned forward to chase after Kara's mouth as a hard knock sounded just outside sending ice water through their veins in the next instant. 

"Are you two all right in there?" Helen asked, her voice brimming with worry. 

Kara turned her head and sagged back down into the weight of her knees as Cat's touch slipped away from her. 

Cat screamed internally, trying not to curl her hands into fists before she answered. "We're fine."

"The guys have changed, the rest should be back in shortly, just wanted to make sure no one had passed out or uh anything."

"We're ok, just try-trying to get dry," Kara stated, her hands hovering over Cat's waist. 

Cat clenched her jaw, suddenly understanding what Kara was trying to do and somehow having more insight than Cat herself as she pushed to a stand. "Be right out."

Kara turned her gaze aside as her fingers undid the button of Cat's jeans before prying them further apart and down, knowing that until Cat took care of her hands they were kind of useless. 

Whatever chill had tried to take root in her chest was burned to ash with the heat that rose up in her as she tried to focus on getting Cat dry instead of the fact that she was undressing her. Cat carefully stepped out of her jeans, watching Kara duck back and away before moving around the bed to where her own clothes were. 

Wordlessly the two changed, backs to one another for the most part. Although when Kara turned to pull her shirt down Cat's heart sank with the bruises she was met with and the line of scratches along her ribs where she had struggled to help. 

"Hey, it's okay…" Kara soothed, stepping closer and brushing the wetness from Cat's cheek. "I hear ladies dig scars."

"That's not funny," Cat said around a bubble of a laugh that was more exhaustion than amusement. 

"I got you to smile though."

"Put your glasses on at least," Cat said, having plucked them from the ground when they were still outside. 

Once the two emerged, Cat had made Kara sit and despite protests from Kara and her hands, had started some kind of meal for them all until Helen made her stop in order to take care of her hands which Cat swore was her only injury. 

Leon and Orin had fared just as well, a few scrapes and bruises but nothing broken. Hunter and Pip had been laid out on the floor near the fire, barely an inch apart from one another until Marin suggested they change and get looked over for injuries. 

Pip was sore and had what appeared to be bruised ribs while Hunter had rope burn and their own set of bruises from getting knocked around. 

Marin and Helen seemed the ablest and the least injured. A few rope Burns and some jammed fingers but nothing that wouldn't heal in a few days. 

Kara was just as bad off as Hunter and Pip, if not worse. Her coughing had subsided but her little last-minute rescue effort had done the last of her strength in. Rope burns welted around her arm like an angry snake and her shoulder was tender from where she had taken the brunt of the weight off Cat from against the pile-on. 

Collectively the group made one able-bodied person. 

Kara ate slowly, thankful for the warmth and equally in awe at how something as simple as chicken noodle soup could provide so much relief. Although the warmth pressed against her back didn't hurt either. 

The clatter of Cat's spoon made her turn, as the others tried not to look up. Without a word, Kara plucked a mouthful of soup from Cat's bowl and offered it up. Cat grasped at the spoon and Kara's hand to stabilize the weakness of her grip the angry throbbing of her palms compounded her typical strength. 

Marin glanced away, catching Hunter's gaze before nodding her head casually to the side before Hunter grinned and hid it away with another mouthful of their own soup. 

The shrill chirp of the sat phone broke the silence, pulling everyone's attention. Kara moved when Cat urged her back, passing off her bowl before grabbing the phone and hitting the speaker function. 

"Hello?"

" _ Miss Grant, this is Agent Danvers _ ."

Cat moved back towards the group and Kara with all eyes on the other woman given the name that came over the phone. "You're on speaker, Agent Danvers."

Kara swallowed hard, shrinking down a little further at everyone's haze moving between her and the phone in Cat's hand. 

_ "Is everyone there alright? Are, are they all accounted for?" _ Alex knew the answer but revealing how she knew was not the smartest move here. 

"We're exhausted and a little battered about, but we're all here."

There was a joint sound of relief from the other end before Alex spoke again. 

" _ That's good. We've been in contact with some of the rescue crews in your area along with the national weather service. There's supposed to be a break in the storms up there day after tomorrow. If the window holds, they're confident they can get a boat crew to you." _

The energy in the room lifted and a couple of people in their small group straightened to attention. 

"We'll be ready, no matter when they get here." Cat offered, looking at those surrounding her. 

" _ That's the good news _ ."

Cat stiffened a bit, feeling the tension in the room double. "Good news?"

" _ Turns out, there's a handful of people here who have a vested interest in your groups’ wellbeing, so we thought we'd let them have a chance to speak." _

"Okay…"

" _ Aunt Rin _ ?" A little girl's voice was heard over the line and Marin was immediately off the couch. 

"Hey, Ridley…" Marina voice wobbled at the sound of her niece before other voices joined in, each naming off a member of the group. 

" _ As far as we know _ ," Alex said after another minute. " _ Everyone here is safe and accounted for and we had those who weren't from around here brought in. Figured your people could use a little something to raise their spirits up." _

The whole of the group looked gobsmacked with the gesture as Cat took the phone off speaker and passed it over to Marin who stepped aside and started talking to her niece and sister. 

Cat stepped back over to Kara, edging back onto the couch as she watched Marin for another moment before turning her gaze aside. 

Each one of them took their turn, however long they needed while the rest watched and waited while trying to be respectful of the emotions running rampant between the lot of them. 

Kara took the phone last, giving a few quiet reassurances before glancing at Cat and offering her back the phone. 

Cat looked confused for a moment, expecting more instructions from Alex until she heard her son on the other end. 

" _ Mom _ ?"

Kara barely had time to grab Cat at the waist as her legs gave out, pulling the woman onto the couch and practically in her lap to keep her from collapsing on to the ground. 

The others looked on for only a second before suddenly finding everything else far more interesting while Cat tried to keep her composure. 

"Hello, my little prince."

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still here...not sick thank God...but still working. It's crazy out there. Be kind, be thankful, I hope you are all okay and know someone out there is thinking about you.

Kara felt herself slowly wake, half stretched out on the couch, covered in a blanket, arms crossed over her chest. The warmth of Cat's body tucked in against her and asleep on a throw pillow propped against Kara's knee. 

The others in the cabin were in a similar state. Ever since they had talked to their families a little while ago, the exhaustion and sudden quiet had done everyone in. 

The crackling of wood in the small hearth and the pattering of rain against the roof had only compounded that. Pip was out completely, head settled on one of Hunter's legs, where Hunter was propped on a set of pillows on the floor still, also asleep. 

Marin and Helen were on the opposite side of the couch still. Marin's arms wrapped around one of the larger couch cushions while her head rested on top while Helen had stretched out along the floor around a blanket. 

Leon and Orin were draped over their chairs, back to back and in oddly contorted positions that despite their appearances were comfortable enough to fall asleep in. 

Kara rubbed at her face, pushing her glasses back up as aches, and scrapes, and bruises, all seemed to send off signal fires through her body, reminding her that she was still very human-esque. 

She felt the hand on her thigh knead at the muscle for a moment before an audible intake of breath pulled Kara's attention back to Cat. 

"Hi…" Kara whispered as quietly as she could, watching Cat slowly come awake. Her features were vacant at first before gradually contorting into discomfort as the woman's body reminded her of how much Cat had pushed herself. 

"Hi…" Cat said softly, flexing parts of her body with a wince before slowly sitting up. 

Kara muffled herself as a short round of coughs forced their way out which made Cat frown before she scooted closer, careful of Helen and Marin, before setting her hand against Kara's forehead. 

"What are you-"

Cat put a finger over Kara's lips, effectively silencing her before prying her hand away and placing it against her own forehead. 

"You're warm." Cat said after another second, letting her finger slip away. 

"I don't feel warm," Kara offered, which wasn't completely the truth. Parts of her felt warm but for entirely different reasons than Cat was referring to. She still felt an uneasy chill throughout most of her body and hoped the feeling would subside soon enough. 

"You should take another round of emergen-c, try to stave it off." 

Kara sighed internally as Cat unfolded herself and slowly stood, carefully making her way around Helen before heading to the kitchen area where the bulk of their supplies were. 

Kara slid off the couch, blanket pulled around her shoulders as she quietly walked towards Cat who already had a mug prepped. 

"Make two," Kara whispered, nudging another mug over. "You need it just as much as I do, so does everyone else." Kara brought her blanket up, stifling another bout of coughs while Cat rose an eyebrow at her. 

"I'm serious, Cat. I know I'll get better ten times over what everyone else will." There was no effort put into maintaining an ounce of who she really was beyond actually saying,  _ 'I'm Supergirl.' _ The second her powers kicked back in Kara knew it would be as if none of this had ever happened, while everyone else could take weeks to fully recover, at least physically. 

Cat gave a soft sigh, knowing Kara was right before filling another mug with warm water. "If only we all had your constitution for even a day." 

Kara gave Cat a half smile, drawing the mug back or herself once Cat had filled it for her. "That… I would pay to see." 

Cat rolled her eyes, drawing her mug up and taking a heavy swallow of the citrusy liquid, her nose wrinkling in distaste as she chased after her first swallow with the rest of the liquid. 

"That stuff is awful," Cat made a face, her body shivering involuntarily for a second as she kept it down. 

Kara hid a chuckle behind her own swallow, she had nothing really to compare it to beyond the acrid taste of some group of pills Cat had given her the night before. This was decidedly better than whatever that had been. 

"What're you thinking?" Kara asked after another moment as Cat surveyed the room. 

"That… is a loaded question."

It was Kara's turn to raise a brow eyeing Cat suspiciously. "Is it?"

Cat gave a small nod, unsure if it was her exhaustion and sudden inability to consider the consequences of her actions or if she was just genuinely tired of side stepping around her feelings towards the other woman. 

"I'm thinking, we all need something to eat that's more substantial than another round of soup." 

Kara hummed quietly, giving a small nod in agreement. They didn't have a lot, but what they did have, despite setting them back a bit as far as food rations went would go a long way in lifting morale even more if they could manage it right. It could be tight if the weather didn't improve but Kara had to hope that maybe her powers would reignite, and were that the case, be enough to help them all out somehow. 

Cat drew in a slow breath, her next words primed as her heart thundered away in her ears. "I was also thinking…"

Kara was looking out over the others as Cat spoke again as Cat drew closer. 

"If after all this… you might still find me…  _ :zhaolia." _

Kara went perfectly still, even her heart seemed to skip a beat as that singular phrase spilled from Cat's lips on a whisper with absolute perfection. Instantly her chest felt as if it were on fire and the phantom touch of Cat's lips against her own earlier roared to life again. The vulgarity of the phrase when spoken a certain way was nowhere to be found, instead it's deeper and much more intimate inflection had practically infused itself within Kara's body with every syllable. 

Cat held her breath, fearing she had said the wrong thing at the wrong moment. As if somehow rationalizing in the span of time from the couch to the stove, they were suddenly all alone. Kara's silence told her all she needed to know, and she made a motion to retreat. 

Kara reached for her, grappling with the vacancy where Cat had stood before taking a step to close the distance again. Her hands were on Cat's waist, holding her in place from behind as Cat allowed Kara to tighten her hold. 

A thousand different thoughts coursed through Kara's mind, all centered on the woman who seemed to struggle to breathe. As Kara stepped into Cat's space, she cast a glance to the others that barely registered in her mind before looking back at Cat. 

Cat felt as if her heart would explode from her chest as the warmth from Kara's body closed in on her. She felt the gentle flex of the woman's fingers pressing into her hips before drawing her back. 

Kara had no idea how Cat knew the phrase or the proper inflection to put upon it. Then again, she had said a lot of things she couldn't quite remember from right after Cat had rescued her. She drew a hand away from Cat's waist then, fingers curling around the line of her hair before drawing it away and exposing the skin beneath. 

Cat's breath caught the instant she felt Kara's lips against her skin, just along the back of her neck, whispering upward in a path towards her ear. 

"Kara…" Cat whispered on a sigh, leaning back into the other woman as her lips brushed over the shell of Cat's ear. She reached back with one hand, finding the muscle of Kara's thigh, as if bracing herself for whatever might come next. 

"I want…" Kara spoke softly, barely loud enough for Cat to hear. "To kiss you so badly right now…" 

Cat's chest caved with the admission, her features turning towards the lure of Kara's voice. 

"But I… I wouldn't want to stop." 

Cat swore under her breath, fumbling for Kara's hand at her hip before pulling it up and placing a firm kiss against Kara's palm. 

Kara made the softest sound, pulling at Cat's heartstrings before she nipped gently at Kara's palm and forced herself to walk away. Kara followed after her for a step or two, bracing herself against the wall with insurmountable restraint as Cat slipped into the bathroom and out of sight. 

***

Alex collapsed into her chair, wishing she was even part alien if for no other reason than to stave off the exhaustion she felt creeping up on her after the day’s efforts. She allowed herself to relax, head back, posture rather undignified as she let her body gradually ease from its constant stand at attention. 

The families of those within Cat's group had been seen to a hotel with the promise of being the first to know when any rescue effort was made before anyone else. Thanks to Astra and J'onn, and a variety of government groups she had run point on the majority of National City and the surrounding townships were far more stable than they would have been even a year ago.

And yet, somehow Alex felt as if she had managed that feat all on her own. She let out a deep breath, wondering if she should call Kara when a soft knock sounded at her door. 

"Come in…" Alex said, not bothering to pick her head up as she turned her chair so she could see who it was only to practically fall out of it. 

Astra had her in a nano-second, the two of them barely hovering off the ground before the Kryptonian slowly brought the two of them upright. Alex swallowed hard, her hands having grabbed for Astra's arms to keep herself stable. 

"I did not mean to-"

"You didn't." 

Astra's hold lingered far longer than it should have and Alex let her body relax in the other woman's hold. 

"You are exhausted." Astra whispered, searching over Alex's features in such close proximity. "You should be resting."

"That... was my next stop." Alex breathed, feeling her heart thunder in her chest. She would be lying if she hadn't imagined this current situation, just not quite this way or under these circumstances. 

"I can come back another-"

"Or you could stay," Astra's surprised look made Alex flounder a bit. "And uhm, tell me what brought you here?"

Astra tipped her head curiously, still holding onto the other woman. "You."

"Me? Why-"

"I wanted… to check on you." Astra, adjusted her hold as Alex's hands slid down her arms while the weight of her body remained balanced in Astra's capable grasp. "Is... that not what one is supposed to do here?"

Alex swallowed, watching the minute complexities of Astra's features as she tried to sort out customs and nuances of human behaviors while cross referencing them with Kryptonian ones. Alex already felt like a fish out of water, even more so since she had finally admitted to her sister that she was gay. A realization that had hit her hardest the instant Astra had appeared. 

Granted the footing they had gotten off to was not exactly one to gravitate towards when it came to considering the idea of mutual attraction. Until it had been revealed with the whole Myriad incident that Astra had been a thrall under its command. The first experiment before expanding to humans with the hope of ensuring not even Superman could stop them. 

Which would have worked were it not for Kara. 

From that point Astra had been an unstable constant. Fluctuating between who she had been, who she had become and who she wanted to be. That effort alone had been valiant, as had the times she had been so willing to step up and be more than just some fallen general. She was an intriguing puzzle, one Alex had kept her distance from when it came to being anything other than the woman's commander as the director of the DEO. 

At least that had been the plan, until she moved in with Kara, where Alex had gotten to know her a little better. Over time she had earned her place amidst the others and had become quite the little drill sergeant when it came to giving her a proper position in the DEO. 

"Where have you gone Brave One?"

The moniker Astra had graced Alex with pulled her immediately back to the now, by way of all the little moments Alex had interacted with the other woman between then and now. Gray eyes searched her over, looking for guidance while trying to hide that little something Alex suddenly recognized, if only because she was looking for the same thing. 

"I'm here," Alex said softly, her body suddenly registering every point of contact the two of them were making. Her chest warmed and Alex knew her cheeks were turning a soft shade of pink by the slow tilt of Astra's head thereafter. 

"I have overstepped somehow," Astra admonished herself, her hands moving from behind Alex's back to around her waist in order to square the other woman up and distance the two of them. "I… I am-"

"Please don't apologize." Alex pleaded with barely a breath. Her hands flexed around Astra's forearms, as if trying to will the other woman's hands to stay out before she lifted her own tentatively. 

"You have gone above your call of duty, under such circumstances, it is an honorable thing. I… I am conflicted as I-"

"Conflicted?" Alex set her hands ever so slightly against the crest along Astra's chest. The darker blue of House In-Ze rising up to meet her with Astra's next breath. 

"I am uncertain with what I should do, Earth is… difficult to discern what is proper or-"

Alex reached up and set her fingertips against Astra's lips to quiet her, feeling the barest shudder of the typically unphasable general. She felt a heavy surge of something indescribable, relief intermingled with awe and something far more intense. The woman holding her could crush the world in her grasp and Alex had made her shudder with the softest of touches. 

"Stop talking, maybe...and just-"

Alex barely had time to breathe as Astra closed the distance between them. She let out a low hum of a sigh that Astra pursued with a firm press of her tongue before Alex's arms wrapped around the other woman’s shoulders and pulled her down as she kissed Astra back passionately. 

  
  
  


  
  



	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ***Authors note at the end.

Cat settled in on the couch, coffee in hand while the others, who couldn't quite seem to separate from each other or the group as a whole were finishing up clearing the remnants of dinner. To save water, Leon had suggested they gather some from the rain outside to clean up. Marin had pulled together their food stores along with Hunter's help to come up with something that would be sustainable while not overwhelming their already exhausted systems. 

Nothing too heavy or lacking in flavor over nutrients like power bars and protein mixes. Once that was decided, Pip and Orin had taken over cooking, after ensuring no one was allergic to anything they were using. Helen and Kara had rearranged the room to accommodate everyone eating together. Leon and Cat had seen to taking stock of what they had left and planning the following day's meals accordingly. 

Cat's focus lingered on Kara, who was sitting near the fire, talking quietly to Hunter as the others slowly filtered back into the main portion of the room once more. The wear and tear of the day was clear in all of them from stiff and sore bodies to repeated rounds of yawning around the group. 

Cat let her gaze drift to Hunter, who seemed just this side of upset. A notion that was furthered by Kara's hand on their shoulder before giving them a firm hug after another second. 

Marin noticed too; Kara's compassion for some as yet unknown issue pulling her closer to the pair. Like a line of dominoes the rest of the group seemed to take notice until Kara seemed to realize that she and Hunter were now the focal point of everyone else. 

“Are you all right?” Marin asked, her attention mostly on Hunter, who let out a huff of a breath and shoved a hand across their face. 

Kara was still rubbing gentle circles along Hunter's back as she looked over at Cat before looking to Hunter for direction. She certainly wasn't going to answer for them, even if she could answer for herself, Kara wasn't sure she wanted to open up that kind of interpersonal communication with the whole of the group. Even if that had been one of the original reasons for any of them being here in the first place. 

“I feel…” Hunter started, not looking at anyone but needing to get the weight of everything off their chest and out of their body before they exploded. “Looking back, like I've done nothing that I planned for myself. When I was on that rope…”

Hunter swallowed hard and Kara forced herself to look away from Cat to the floor as Hunter's emotions seemed to pass through their body into her own with every circle of her hand. 

“I just… I don't know, I'm sorry I-”

“Don't say you're sorry.” 

All eyes turned to Cat who spoke with such absolute conviction it carried the weight of a Buick. 

“You have nothing to apologize for, Hunter.”

Kara offered them a soft smile of encouragement as Cat continued. 

“You have more courage than the entire board, including me. Not to mention self awareness. You say you have accomplished nothing? You know exactly who you are, inside and out. Some people spend lifetimes trying to achieve that. Hunter, you, single-handedly changed our system. You made it possible for others at CatCo to embrace that in themselves  _ and _ opened my eyes to how ignorant I was despite believing myself to be progressive and forward thinking.”

Kara leaned in then, nudging Hunter gently. “Near impossible feat, that.”

Hunter couldn't help the faint laugh that escaped them with Kara's comment. Easing the heavy tension that had settled over all of them. 

“I appreciate that Miss-”

“Cat.” The woman dead panned, tipping her head and giving no quarter to anything other than her first name being used in order to refer to her. 

“I... I do, Cat. Thank you.”

Cat gave a firm but small nod, leaning back a bit into the couch as she looked at Hunter before flicking her eyes to Kara. 

“You are all extraordinary people. Filled to the brim with so much potential yet somehow along the way it got shoved aside.” Cat took in a deep breath, looking at those around the room. “It's the reason, as much as I'm sure you loathe and question  _ 'why me' _ now, that I picked each of you to come here.”

Kara studied Cat carefully, watching her process her words a second as those that she already said settled around everyone's shoulders. 

“Each and every one of you has systematically improved not only CatCo but me  _ and _ those around you. You're the base, the grounding keystone that lifts everyone else in your departments around you upward. Not because you're good at your jobs, but because of the paths you've carved within your own adversities that have made each of you who you are, right here.”

The group sat stunned listening to the woman who could barely offer a passing glance of approval as far as they were concerned half the time. Now, she was her own wrecking ball, tearing down the walls of her own guarded and thorn riddled exterior in front of them without remorse. 

“I'm sorry.”

Kara's head shot up with that, and she wasn't the only one as looks from the others passed through the room like falling dominoes. 

“For not saying or doing more, for encouraging you all through a filter of criticism and disapproval.” Cat suddenly looked tired, more exhausted than even Kara had seen her before, stripped bare in front of them emotionally and utterly, beautifully, human. 

“You're not your mother.” Kara's voice cut through the silence, as Cat's red rimmed eye cut her way. 

“You're hard, and you push, and it works not because it's parental but because you're the best at this, and it makes me want to be the best for you.” Leon spoke up after another second, as the tension in the room seemed to ease. 

“It's infuriating, but not because you are, but because you can see something I can't and it makes me want to find whatever it is and go further.” Pip said, bolstered by the others in the room. 

“It makes me stand up for myself, to make my ideas heard and to be taken seriously because if you can be where you are so can I.” Marin said, her convictions written all over her body for Cat to bear witness. 

“You gave me a place to feel safe, to belong, allowed me to realize I mattered.” Hunter said, as Cat swallowed thickly, tears brimming on her lashes. 

“It makes the struggle easier, forces you to look deep down into yourself and when someone says no, want to prove to them wrong and why not just give in or give up.” Leon said watching Cat set a hand over her mouth. 

“You're the most compassionate person I've ever had the pleasure of working for because you actually give a damn about every single employee under you.” Helen said, watching her words strike deep at the other woman. 

Cat pulled in a shuddering breath, giving a small shake of her head, refusing to look at Kara or any of the others. 

“You make us all better people,  _ you _ do that Cat. So don't apologize, you would never expect us to, and we certainly don't expect it from you.”

Kara's words are the final nail in Cat's emotional coffin. The woman’s quivering breath was felt across the group as Cat struggled to breathe, drawing herself up from the couch and away. There was a murmur of a thank you and maybe a breath of apology before she slipped into her room and out of sight. 

The others looked between themselves knowingly, all eyes eventually rounding to Kara who drew in a deep breath.

“I think, that's our cue to head to bed.” Helen stated, giving Kara an easy out. 

Pip, Hunter, Leon and Orin stood, knowing they were taking Marin and Helen's cabin while the whole of the room watched as Kara made her way to the bedroom area of the cabin and quietly knocked. 

They strained to hear Cat's voice allow her entry before Kara edged her way inside and out of sight. 

“Remember, you hear anything or something else happens-”

“Pull the rope or start shouting.” Orin said, referring to the rope they had strung various items on and tied between the two neighboring cabins as a kind of alarm. 

“Think she'll be okay? I… I didn’t intend to make Cat cry.” Leon asked looking around. 

Pip shook his head. “She needed that, just like we needed to see her like that.”

“What, broken down?” Marin asked. 

“Human.” Hunter offered, before they all gradually dispersed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the delay, this week has been hell. A co-worker of mine has become symptomatic and we are waiting on their test results(hopefully sometime this weekend but we're not holding our breath given the delays in testing everywhere.) 
> 
> There are a multitude of factors that should have come into consideration before it ever got to this point but alas the severity of this entire situation with Covid19 seems to elude those who make all the decisions over the rest of us and is a waste of energy to look back and wonder what should have been done, when the focus now is what needs to be done.
> 
> To be clear, I am asymptomatic as is my partner and in an abundance of caution we are self quarantining for 21 days(19 days left). One would think this would aid in getting WiP's done but I'm also working from home (too little too late) so there's that... 
> 
> Regardless, I hope everyone is staying smart, staying safe and remember we're all in this together.


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> closer......

Kara eased into the room once Cat permitted her to enter. Sliding the door behind herself and setting the latch in place. The last thing she wanted was for Marin or Helen, or anyone else for that matter, to come waltzing in with Cat so raw and vulnerable. 

Cat was on the edge of the bed, a single lamp casting sharp angles across the room left her in shadow. From what Kara could see, a bandaged hand was still over her face, her body hunched over as if defeated while her lungs seized every second or so in an effort to regulate her rhythms again. 

Kara stepped over slowly, carefully lowering herself beside the other woman while remaining silent. There was nothing more that needed to be said, as much as there still was that Kara wanted to say. She drew in a deep breath, watching Cat for a moment longer before looking ahead of herself. Kara would wait all night like this if Cat needed it; into tomorrow and the next, it didn't matter. 

What mattered was that Cat knew she was there, in whatever capacity the other woman allowed her to be. 

Cat wiped at her face roughly with the back of her hand, sucking in a sharp breath that filled the room. The weight of Kara beside her was its own comfort, her silent strength bleeding over into her. Cat stared ahead, drawing on that strength, on the quiet stoicism rife with compassion and understanding unspoken. She felt an unfathomable warmth rage inside her, clawing at the crumbling remains of her self-preservation, feeding off her emotional exposure all centered around Kara. 

Kara felt the sudden and intense pressure of Cat's hand around her own without looking up as fingers forced themselves between Kara's before she squeezed Cat’s hand in reassurance. The sudden jolt of Cat's next movement pulled Kara off balance, her features caught in the grasp of Cat's other hand. Fingers tangled into her hair, righting her for a split second before Cat closed the space between them and kissed Kara breathless. 

Cat drew Kara in closer, urging the other woman up and around until Kara was braced on her hands on either side of Cat's body. Soft lips quivered against her own before parting on a gasp, allowing Cat to invade Kara's mouth with a broken whimper of a sound. 

Kara fought for air, refusing to break away as she wrapped Cat up with one arm, pulling her closer at the waist as Cat devoured her. Where Cat shoved herself back, Kara pushed forward from the floor, both women moving in tandem as Kara laid out over Cat's body as they moved further up along the bed. 

The pain of her injuries ignored, Cat’s hands twisted in Kara's hair, urging the faintest whimper from the woman as Cat kissed her deeper. Slender legs fit around Kara's waist, heels digging into her thighs as Kara drove her hips down and forward, urging them even higher into the depths of the mattress. Kara's hands pushed at the thin barriers between them, letting out a low growl of a sound as skin caught against skin. 

Cat pulled at Kara's mouth, kneading her bottom lip between her teeth before leaning up again to claim her. Kara ground herself down against Cat's body, her skin turning red as fire coursed through her veins with every heartbeat. Cat hummed against her, legs tightening around Kara's body as her hips rocked up hard enough to make Kara's eyes roll. 

Her moan was muffled against Cat's mouth, swallowed up with the next turn of her head until Kara's body seized involuntarily. Cat's eyes went wide and in a split second she let Kara go as the woman pulled back and bowed her head before coughing roughly. Cat swore at herself internally before using the lapse in their connection to urge Kara over and onto her back. 

Hands filtered through Kara's own, pulling her arms up over her head as she sputtered and tried to breathe. Cat's knees went wide as she pulled them up, lifting her weight completely from the other woman as she whispered gentle reassurances to breathe. 

Kara let out another cough, clearing her throat with an annoyed huff if a breath as her head fell back against the pillows. She swore under her breath, pulling in air as Cat slowly lowered her weight into the cradle of Kara's hips. Kara stared at the ceiling, hands flexing around Cat's own as she willed her lungs to settle on her next breath as Cat drifted into her eyeline.

“Kara?” Cat's voice was rough and low, concern written across her features. 

"This sucks,” Kara finally answered, refusing to look at the other woman until Cat loomed over her giving her no choice. 

“Are you-”

“No… but I can breathe.” Kara said as Cat's hands flexed around her own. Kara tried to sit up, using Cat's grip as leverage only to feel her hands pushed down with Cat's weight into the pillows. 

“I didn't say you could get up,” Cat whispered, pulling Kara's gaze instantly. 

Kara's heart hammered in her chest with those words, fingers squeezing tightly as she fought to keep her hips from rolling up into the other woman. Cat searched over Kara's features, the barest of smiles pulling at her lips as she studied the other woman carefully.

“I shouldn't have done that,” Cat started, and when Kara moved to argue she leaned in closer. “I don't honestly know if I would have, outside of everything that's gone on the past two days.”

The honesty of Cat's words chilled Kara's desire. She couldn't fault Cat for it, but the thought twisted in the wind within her mind if they would even be here; Cat straddled across her lap, pinned down and ready to-

“But I can tell you, we would have gotten here eventually,” Cat shifted her weight, stretching herself over Kara's frame, braced on her arms to keep from compressing Kara's torso any further. “If only, because of you.”

Kara pulled in a slow breath, feeling the warning tension in her chest, unable to stop the shudder that rippled through her with Cat's movements. She tried moving her arms again, only to feel Cat reaffirm her hold and press them back down. 

“Because of me?” Kara whispered, moving slightly beneath Cat until her breath caught when the other woman fit against her at just the right angle. “How… what… I don't under-”

Cat nosed at Kara's features with a faint laugh as the woman stumbled over herself. “You don't kiss someone like that if you've given up.”

Kara's cheeks flushed red as the urge to move, to flip Cat over and kiss her into oblivion swelled up inside her. Cat slowly straightened her fingers, freeing the other woman from her grasp as she moved her hands down along the bed by the tips of her fingers, palms throbbing from the lack of contact and her own carelessness. 

Kara stared up at her, her limbs drifting slowly as she surrounded Cat's face with her hands before filtering her fingers into the woman's hair. Cat let out a soft sigh, eyes closing briefly as electricity toyed along her veins with every touch. A sharper gasp broke between them and Cat's eyes widened with the solid pressure of Kara's thigh pressing up between her legs. 

Kara held Cat easily, watching her skin flush around her throat and her expression drift somewhere between lost and found. Kara shifted her weight, adjusting their position until Cat was firmly seated against her before Kara planted her foot and lifted her hips higher. A soft moan spilled from Cat's lips, its warmth coating Kara's skin as she kneaded her fingers against Cat's scalp to draw the sound out further. 

“We can't…” Cat whined, making Kara's chest flutter before the woman rolled her hips up again. 

“I know…” Kara finally answered as Cat's body trembled and fought against the need to grind herself downward. Kara guided Cat closer, the strength of Cat's arms failing her as she laid over Kara's body. 

"But you have to understand, Cat...." Kara whispered against Cat's mouth, lips catching and rubbing against each other. "I find you so much more than…  _ fuckable _ .”

Cat's breath caught with the word, and Kara leaned up enough to capture it before kissing the other woman silent. Cat let out another whimper, forcing a leg under Kara's body in order to hold them tighter together. Kara chased after the sound, hands sliding from Cat's hair before clawing down her back and out between her ribs in order to surround her. Cat twisted the sheets in her grasp, pain lancing up her arms as she let out a frustrated noise before pushing herself up. 

Kara chased after her half-heartedly, her hold on Cat’s body slipping through her fingers as Cat steadied herself on her hands and knees before climbing off Kara and away from her. Kara stayed exactly where she was, a hand drifting to her abdomen to calm the cascade of sensations undulating throughout her in waves with every heartbeat. It was almost obscene how close to giving in she was. That if Cat touched her now, or dare she even touch herself, Kara would be undone in a second. 

Cat moved to the far corner of the room, a hand braced on the wall as the other rubbed firmly along the base of her throat and across the flat of her chest. Her legs were weak and Cat marveled at how she could even stand much less willingly untangle herself from the other woman still lying on the bed behind her. 

There were other people in the next room, not that Cat would care if the mood struck her right, but this was not one of those moments. There was still another day before anyone might even attempt to rescue them and that was still a big if, dependent solely on the weather. They still had to try to sleep,  _ together, _ in a bed that now felt so absurdly small. The others in their group were in an equally compromised state of exhaustion and Kara was far from any kind of appropriate condition, health or otherwise, to even consider what Cat’s mind refused to stop playing out with absolute clarity. 

Cat cursed herself and the little voice, filled with a curious desire, that posed the question of just how much Kara could handle without her powers as her own hand fit around her throat to stifle the sound threatening to escape her with the thought.

“I can sleep in the other room, the others would understand.” 

Cat’s eyes closed with Kara’s voice, body pitching forward at the hip to straighten herself before she turned around. Kara was still on the bed, one leg up, knee bent over, a hand across her solar plexus as the other was out of sight on her opposite side. She was staring at the ceiling and Cat was more than thankful for that little consideration. Unsure if she could keep herself in the corner if Kara looked at her with any semblance of what her voice had just revealed. 

“I wouldn't,” she would, she did, but the thought of Kara being apart from her even in the same cabin now sent a spike of panic through Cat's chest. 

Kara let out a forced breath, cheeks puffing out as she tried to figure out how they were going to do this and somehow manage to actually sleep. 

“I'm going to get ready for bed, out there, in the bathroom.” 

Kara's mouth twitched with amusement as Cat explained herself step by step. 

“Check on the others, and get some water for both of us.” Cat crossed the room, gathering her night clothes and keeping her distance as Kara's gaze turned to her. Cat swallowed hard, feeling the heat of Kara's eyes on her before she stood and put her back to the door. “I expect you to be just as ready, before I get back.”

Kara made an odd little sound, one that nearly made Cat drop everything she was holding before she fumbled with the lock and slipped out of the bedroom. Kara closed her eyes as the door slid shut, grabbing for a pillow to stifle herself as she cursed Rao for all the deity was worth. 


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fair warning we have reached NSFW territory.

Alex panted heavily, her head thumping against the underside of her desk at an odd angle. Her skin was flush and beads of sweat lined her brow as she fought for more oxygen. Her heartbeat drummed against her ears, pounded against her ribs and thundered between her hips without remorse. 

Her body felt boneless and heavy, the larger portion of that weight shifting as Astra climbed up her body on the brace of her hands before kissing her with the utmost tenderness. Alex hummed against the other woman, who seemed barely phased by comparison until Alex tangled fistfuls of Astra's hair into her hands and held her in place as she kissed her back hungrily. 

In a span of seconds, Astra forgot what breathing was, more than happy to suffocate at Alex's hands until she pulled in a sharp breath through her nose. Alex's legs fastened around her waist with the promise of never letting go, angling her hips sharply as she forced Astra to hover the both of them off the ground to keep from collapsing on top of the other woman and hurting her. 

Alex refused to give quarter, knowing Astra could break away at any moment if she wanted and was thankful when she didn't. A hand frantically clawed at Astra's suit, tugging it apart at the hidden seams as she pushed and struggled until the pair thudded into the desk. Astra let out a strangled growl of a sound, rolling her hips against Alex's hand, urging her in deeper as one arm wrapped around Alex's body to hold her up while the other braced itself against the floor as her powers flickered and gravity found them again. 

Alex actually laughed against her mouth, teasing her tongue against Astra's own, mimicking the motion with her fingers as Astra shuddered violently in her grasp in response. 

"One more…" Alex pleaded, her wrist on the verge of breaking as she pushed deeper still, already feeling Astra starting to come apart. "One more Astra please…" 

Astra broke away from Alex's mouth, her teeth sharp enough to bruise as she laid kisses across Alex's skin around each heavy breath bound to the rhythm of Alex's hand. 

When out of nowhere Astra moved so fast that Alex swore she saw into another dimension for a split second. She was standing, haphazard and off balance, hands set on her desk, shirt askew before it was tugged into place over the waistband of her newly replaced boxer briefs. 

A knock sounded at the door of her office before Winn just let himself in. 

"Alex…?" Winn looked to the nearby couch, half expecting her to be asleep given the late hour, or early hour depending on how one looked at it. Only to find her standing behind her desk. Given how disheveled she looked, Winn could only assume she had just woken up and was either planning to head back to the couch or perhaps home until later. 

“Oh, good you're awake.”

“Hmm what? Yes, I was, going over some reports and-”

“The rescue crew is moving out.”

“Say that again?”

“The storm broke earlier than expected. They have a good window and decided now or never. I figured you'd want to tell the families and maybe get Kara on the sat phone.”

Alex's head fell, which she hoped Winn took as a sign of relief and not an effort to hide her expression at the sight of Astra coiled under her desk looking up at her on the verge of another orgasm. 

“That's great. Give me, five... ten minutes and I'll be right out. Let the other teams know and prep a private medbay for Kara and the others.”

Winn looked her over one last time, brow furrowing a bit as he ventured closer and Alex allowed herself to sit in her chair, hiding the fact she didn't have pants on as Astra pulled her further forward under the desk. 

“You want to bring them here?”

Alex pulled in a sharp but gradual breath, her jaw flexing as she shifted in her seat and cut her eyes up to Winn. 

“Ok... sure uhm, we’ll bring them round back, or something. You know Cat is with them, right?”

“I'm fully aware.” Alex said from behind the clench of her teeth, fighting against the want to shout as Astra pulled her underwear off and mouthed a path up along her thigh. “Which is why I said private.”

“Oh... okay, I'll let J'onn and-”

“I'll tell Astra. It… it'll be easier coming from me, especially when I ask her to stay here instead of trying to help.”

Winn frowned a bit before giving a nod. “You got it director,” closing the door behind himself as he stepped out. 

Alex was nearly pulled out of her chair, hands clamping over her mouth to stifle a scream as Astra mapped every contour of her with her tongue. 

"Just... one more…  _ my  _ brave one." 

\-------

Rain pelted Kara's skin, the cold water practically steaming off her body the second it hit. Nails clawed at her skin before she found Cat's hands and pulled them away, fastening them around the heavy weight of a rope and holding them there. 

Cat's heady sounds of arousal and amusement were barely heard above another round of thunder as Kara painted her skin with open-mouthed kisses and lightning hot trails with her tongue. 

Kara heard the pleading sounds of Cat urging her on, body pressing back into her, skin on skin and soaking wet from more than just the rain. Cat twisted and pulled at the rope, turning it over and around until it fastened around her wrists by Kara's hand. 

Kara pulled the rope tight, earning another delicious note of approval from deep within Cat's throat as Kara's hands rounded over rain soaked contours towards Cat's hips. Cat pulled hard against the ropes, turning her head back to try and claim Kara's mouth as the woman's hands teased and kneaded along her body. Nails dug into her thighs, pulling up and leaving welts that made her call out Kara's name. 

Kara shot awake in an instant, her hold on Cat from behind her tightening for only a moment before she let the other woman go. The room was pitch dark, her senses still muted as she panted like someone who had just finished a marathon. 

Cat turned cautiously, hours had passed since they had gotten comfortable enough with each other again to try to sleep. Although where Kara had succeeded in that, Cat had been lying awake counting the minutes. 

She had been precariously balanced on the edge of drifting off when Kara's arms had surrounded her. Her body came alive in the next second as Kara had nuzzled her back and lazily urged her hips against Cat's backside. It had taken more willpower than Cat knew she had not to give into whatever fever dreams were running rampant in the other woman and in an effort to wake her, had called out Kara by name. 

Cat was shocked silent when one of Kara's hands had risen higher, palming at her intimately until Cat grabbed at her wrist and said her name louder with the hope of forcing Kara awake. 

Cat's body was now a taut wire, balanced on a razor thin edge as she turned towards the labored sound of Kara's breathing. Despite the darkness, her eyes had adjusted enough while she had laid awake and now she could just make out the other woman's panic stricken expression. 

“I'm sorry, I'm sorry… Cat, I… didn't, I'm-”

Cat grabbed for Kara's wrist again, throwing Kara into silence as she turned further and waited. Her thumb rubbed in hard circles within Kara's palm, gradually drawing the other woman closer. 

“You did nothing wrong,” Cat whispered, feeling the tension within Kara's body ready to snap. She felt her own breath hitch as she shifted, leg pressing into Kara's knee as Kara's hand closed around her thumb to stop her. 

“Nothing I wouldn't want,” the admission made Kara whimper and Cat wished she'd had the foresight to turn the damn light on nearby. Cat pulled Kara closer still, pressing the other woman's hand against her chest. 

Kara felt as if she were holding Cat's heart in her hand with the ferocity of the muscle beating against her palm and her body caved with Cat’s soft intake of breath as Kara's fingers pressed in a little firmer. 

“I want you awake and aware for all of what you do to me.”

“Cat...” Kara breathed, her body raw and her bearings all out of order. 

“Come here?” Cat barely whispered, knowing there would be no going back now. 

Kara knew she could say no, knew she could just back up and sleep on the floor and Cat would understand, and she had never  _ not _ wanted to do something like that in all her life. 

As Kara shifted closer, she felt Cat's leg press against her knee until she lifted herself up enough for Cat to fit herself beneath Kara's body. The hand at Cat's chest turned to accommodate her new position as she straddled Cat's thighs. Before she could even gain her balance, Cat pulled her forward until Kara was practically laying on top of her, braced on one hand. 

Cat leaned up just enough, whispering soft kisses along Kara's chin as she flexed her hold around Kara's wrist from over her chest. Kara's fingers gave way with a soft sigh, her head tipping back as Cat's touch fluttered along her neck. Cat guided Kara's hand lower, breathing heavily against the woman's throat as she urged their joined hands under the band at her waist. 

Kara uttered some kind of prayer or curse, Cat wasn't sure, in her native language and Cat wanted nothing more than to reduce the other woman to that any chance she could. She opened her hand, allowing Kara the control and consent of her own actions. 

“Nothing has to happen Kara…” Cat breathed as Kara's fingers thrummed against her skin, body trembling over Cat's own. “No matter what I want, understand?”

Kara nodded against Cat's words along her skin. There were a thousand different ways Kara knew they could have arrived at this point, none of which included anything like what had actually transpired. Kara dipped her head down, nuzzling Cat's features as she kissed her with a slow, purposeful intent. 

Cat gasped against her mouth when Kara's hand moved lower, teasing through wiry down. Cat's entire body shuddered, hips chasing up towards the elusive touch until Kara's fingertips dipped lower. The tentative swirl of Kara's fingers against hot, wet skin nearly made Cat come on the spot. 

Kara moaned quietly, breathing in Cat's broken sounds as her touch grew bolder. She turned her hand further, pressing down with her hips as she teased and mapped the deliciously slick contours of Cat's shallows. Eyes practically rolling into the back of her head as Cat coated her fingertips. 

Cat nodded against Kara's mouth, hands kneading and clawing at Kara's biceps in her fight to keep still. Currents of electricity wrapped in fire pooled around her hips from Kara's touch, rushing up and out across her nerves mercilessly. She whined and whimpered as quietly as she could while Kara's fingers teased and spiralled against her. 

Her hips shook with effort, and Kara's weight pressed her down harder, pulling another soft moan from her throat. Cat fought for every breath, begging for Kara to ease inside and claim Cat for her own. Kara only answered by kissing her deeper, lashing out with her tongue in small bursts into Cat's mouth as her fingertips worked in small circles against her. Edging her arousal higher and higher before slipping away, leaving her body heavy and wanton for more. 

Kara wasn't supposed to be this good, this attentive or intune with her. She wasn't supposed to know the impossible little nuances that drove Cat up a wall and made her want to scream. The rare occurrence where Cat  _ had _ allowed herself to fantasize this very moment, Kara was hard and quick and half out of her suit on Cat's desk back at CatCo.  _ This _ was something else entirely, something deeper that made her heart ache and her body struggle to hold out. 

It toyed with her emotions and flew in the face of the idea she had carried towards someone like Kara finding someone like her attractive or more; shredding what few remaining doubts towards Kara's intentions towards her as merely being a conquest, into tatters. 

Cat slammed back into her body as Kara moved away, fear of rejection bubbling up along the back of her neck until she felt the urgent pull of Kara's arm around her thigh, guiding it out from under herself and out around Kara's own waist, never once breaking their kiss. Cat clung to the other woman, hands smoothing out across Kara's face and into her hair. Her body protested the stretch of her leg in the next second until Kara shifted and rocked up against her, sending a whole other wave of arousal through her body. 

"Yes… Kara..." Cat murmured around the onslaught of Kara's mouth, body bowing up as she held on. Kara's hand pulled at her clothes, exposing her as much as the fabric would allow with Kara's own body in the way. Another low groan broke between them, rooted in Cat's chest as Kara's touch seared itself into Cat's memory with another hungry swirl of motion through velvety, wet folds. 

Kara huffed against Cat's mouth, the utter power trip her ego was on nearly doing her in as Cat writhed and urged her on with needy sounds and clawing hands while her mind prayed this wasn't a dream. Not this time. Kara pinned Cat down with her body, curling her tongue up against Cat's mouth as she circled a single finger just beyond the shallows. Quivering muscles and broken cries, muffled by their kiss, left her feeling intoxicated and part of Kara prayed it would never end. 

"Kara please…" Cat begged around their kiss, her body heavy, insides twisted into knots that tightened as Kara's touch withdrew, everything in her screaming for release. She felt her hips lift higher as Kara urged her onto the shelf of her thighs, opening her up further to Kara's exploratory touch as her body hung in the ether with anticipation. 

Kara broke away just enough to look at her, her eyes having adjusted enough that she could see Cat's expression in all its glory. She nearly came from the look Cat leveled on her and made no effort to hide that fact. Cat bit into her own bottom lip with the realization, breathing heavily as she nodded over and over again in a silent plea for Kara to take her. 

Kara watched every little flutter of emotion and arousal that crossed Cat's face, soaking it all in as she worked her fingers against Cat's entrance with a deliberately sinful rhythm. Cat sucked in a deep breath as Kara moved, broken open and hovering on the brink as the sliding door to their room was suddenly pounded on. 

Cat literally growled as Kara went stock still, and words Cat could almost feel bubbling up within Kara’s throat were silenced with Cat’s hand over the other woman’s mouth. 

“What?!” Cat shouted back, her chest caving inward with the lance of Kara’s tongue against her fingers. She cut her eyes to the other woman in warning before flexing her hand almost painfully tighter around Kara’s mouth to urge her to stop. 

“Uhm.. I.. we…” Marin’s voice sounded through the door before Helen spoke against the line of where it was latched to the wall by its flimsy lock. 

“The F.B.I. is on the phone, they say the rescue crew is coming.” 

Cat’s head fell back against the bed, defeated. Reality, and the outside world staking its claim on them like an overturned bucket of ice water as she felt Kara slowly lower the rest of her body down onto the bed. “ Fuck ..”

Kara bent forward as Cat’s hand slipped from around her face, forehead resting on Cat’s solar plexus as she set her hands around Cat’s ribs, trying to force her body to ease back down into some semblance of normal as quietly as she could. Even as a part of her swore it was utterly futile and that normal would forever evade her from this point forward. Cat’s fingers filtered into her hair, trying to soothe the both of them. 

“Cat?” Helen questioned tentatively. 

“Getting dressed,” she lied with an annoyed edge to her voice. “I will not meet a rescue team in my pajamas.” 

“What do I tell the FBI lady? She wants to talk to her sister.”

“Tell her I'm coming.” Kara said in a huff, straightening up and instead of being allowed to get up as she intended, Cat grabbed at her shirt and pulled her back in. 

“I  _ promise _ you will later,” Cat whispered hot against her ear before finally letting go. 

Kara nearly fell out of the bed, righting herself easily enough as she moved closer to the door, waiting for Cat to pull the line of her pants back up as Kara swore under her breath. 

Cat climbed off the bed, making her way over to the other woman before urging her chin down enough to kiss her one last time. Kara whimpered, the sound dying in her chest as she was pressed back into the door before Cat undid the latch and broke away. 

Kara fumbled with her glasses as Cat tossed them to her, already pulling out clothes from her bag in haste before pulling her shirt up and off roughly.

“Oh sweet Rao…” Kara muttered before turning and nearly smacking into the door where she grabbed the handle and pulled it open and pushed her way out, grabbing the sat phone from Marin along the way. 

“Alex…”

“ _ Kara, the team headed your way should be there in an hour. J'onn is with them.” _

“What?”

“ _ He was already gone by the time I was made aware, something about wanting to be sure you were taken care of. He’s going to blend in as one of the rescue team members.” _

Kara sighed, pacing across the room near the fire while Helen and Marin gathered their things. “Is Astra-?” 

_ “I am here, little one, anxiously waiting for your return.”  _

Kara didn’t know whether to be surprised or grateful, at least this way she would only have to explain Hank, and that was a big maybe, not like she would trying to corral Astra and her lack of keeping things a secret. That was something they were still working on. 

_ “Once they get you out, I've got you and the others on a private flight back here.”  _

  
  



	23. Chapter 23

Kara collapsed on her bed, wrapped tighter than a drum in a thick robe and fresh from the shower. As promised, the rescue team had found them and after a careful bit of planning managed to get the group into a pair of boats and out of the area. 

From there, they were transported by van to a neighboring town and each given a thorough examination before being cleared. They set each one of them up in their own room along the same floor of a hotel and despite their initial reluctance to part from one another had each dispersed into their own rooms. 

Food and clothes and little support bundles were waiting for them in their rooms but the first order of business Kara had seen to, beyond asking about Cat, was to take a scalding hot shower. 

Kara pulled herself further onto the bed, wrapping herself around a pillow and instantly wishing it was Cat. The two had been separated the instant they stepped foot from the cabin sight and beyond a fleeting touch or glancing look, had had no other contact. 

Kara closed her eyes, as the outside world invaded her mind, running through the scenarios that were stacked up and waiting for them. With Cat's reputation and brand, she knew there would be interviews and stories about all of them in every newspaper from coast to coast. 

CatCo would rally around them all, as a sign of solidarity and publicity but to what level Kara knew only Cat could determine. There were already papers from legal and a plethora of other minutiae from CatCo to the DEO pawing at each of them and all Kara wanted to do was shut it all out and hide away with Cat somewhere. 

Her powers were still blown, at least as far as the majority of her abilities went, even if Kara felt stronger. Thankfully the rattle within her chest was gone and she didn't feel nearly as exhausted as she should have all things considered. 

Even Clark had reached out to her, reminding her that sometimes their powers warranted a more gradual return over the adrenaline fueled microburst of a kickstart. 

Kara pulled in a slow breath, on the verge of getting up and walking around outside just because she could now, or letting the relaxing ease of the shower coax her to sleep, or as close to it as she hoped it would. Kara turned slightly, reaching out across the bed to the vacancy that Cat's body would have occupied were they still sharing a room. 

She let out a dark sigh, chastising herself with the thought before turning over onto her back. The shrill sound of her room phone sounded, pulling her attention as she stretched over and picked up the receiver. 

“I'm okay Alex, I promised you that an hour ago.”

The line was silent and Kara almost wondered if her sister had hung up. 

“Hello?”

“ _ So you're okay then?” _ Cat's voice was like a warm blanket over the phone, wrapping her up and filling her with warmth. 

“I… as much as I can be.” Kara hedged, turning on her side to face the phone as if she were talking to Cat directly. “Are you-”

“ _ I'm sore, and tired…” _

There was something more there, something brimming on Cat's tongue that Kara felt resonate without it being said. 

“You can't sleep, can you?”

Cat sighed over the phone, and Kara closed her eyes, imagining Cat surrounded in her comforter and braced by at least ten pillows, coiled up and frustrated in a little nest while sleep eluded her. 

“ _ Not as if I haven't tried _ ,” Cat admitted as a rustle sounded over the phone while she moved. “ _ Too much going on _ .”

Kara drew in a slow breath, letting Cat's words linger between them. 

“You're thinking about what's coming aren't you? What we'll all be bombarded with when we get back.”

Cat hummed with amusement. “ _ So insightful, I've been fielding calls ever since we arrived. Not sure how people got the number but kudos to investigative journalism I suppose.” _

Kara sighed, her head shaking. She would have to get Alex on that. Luckily their hotel was surrounded by local law enforcement to keep the press at bay and yet. 

“You know, given the right set of circumstances, you'd be right there doing the same thing. Maybe not now but-”

“ _ You're not wrong,” _ and Kara wasn't. They were definitely newsworthy, a feel-good-through-adversity piece, but no more than anyone else who had been affected by the Earthquake or flood. “ _ Just shows me how much things have changed and not at the same time.” _

“You mean how much you've changed.” Kara asserted as Cat took in an audible breath furthering her point. 

“ _ Point taken _ .” Cat answered after another moment, letting out a soft sigh. “ _ My people shouldn't be exploited.” _

“They won't be, not if I know you.” Kara allowed, the image of Cat frowning easily coming to mind. “You'll take the brunt of it, shield us behind you and move on.”

Cat breathed into the phone and Kara felt her heart ache from it. 

“And I'll be right there beside you, if you'll let me.” Kara held her breath as soon as the words let her mouth. It wasn't as if they had talked about anything between them before or since and here Kara was making declarations. 

Cat was quiet for a long moment, filling the space between them with a thick tension that made Kara want to get up and walk around. 

“ _ My hero _ ,” Cat whispered and Kara felt her chest fall with the sound of it. 

It was more than that, more than her suit or her moniker. 

“I'm not talking about that, Cat, I'm talking about being there for you.  _ Me, _ not Supergirl.”

_ “I know… _ ” Cat said after another long pause and Kara couldn't help the sinking feeling settling around her shoulders and weighing her down. 

“Do you?” Kara pressed, rubbing at her sternum as if trying to will the ache building there away. “Do you have any idea-”

“ _ It's not that simple, Kara _ .”

The strike of Cat's words echoed through Kara's body as if she had been slapped. Her eyes instantly turning to glass as she heard the barest of apologies on Cat's behalf towards her. 

“It's only complicated, if you make it complicated Cat.” Kara said, shoving the wetness at her cheeks away roughly. “Difficult, challenging, that I can give you, but complicated is not the word I would use.”

“ _ But it's not simple either is it? Not when you step back and take a good hard look at all of it." _

Kara's singular laugh, more breath than sound, was sour, warped and palpable across the line. Rendering Cat silent as Kara just nodded to herself and whatever unspoken questions were circling through her mind. 

“I see.” Kara said with a note of finality that made Cat pull in an audible breath over the line. 

“ _ I'm not good at this, any of it and- _ ”

“As long as it's away from the rest of the world it's worth doing, worth feeling it out, right?”

“ _ Kara- _ ”

“Don't.” Kara breathed, her chest turning red as she tried to rub the heartache away. 

"Don't apologize or explain anything, I understand Cat, really, I do." She didn't, not immediately, but a small part back in the depths of her mind did and Kara had to respect that. It  _ was _ complex and messy and disastrous if one looked at it one way. Kara should have expected no less to be fair, from a woman who in truth had far more to lose than Kara did by comparison.

_ "I am not telling you no." _ Cat's voice came over the line with absolute precision. " _ You know that secret identity of yours? I have one too, except I don't get to take off a cape and play normal for the rest of the world the majority of the time. It's the exact opposite for me." _

Kara knew that too, had known it since before she took up her cape. It was one of the things Kara loved about her. How she was Cat Grant media mogul, CEO and super woman or so everyone thought. She was also a great cook, a bad joke enthusiast, a doting mother to her son, and a plethora of other things no one really saw behind the scenes. Not the flawed human side of her anyway. 

What Kara took for granted everyday as Kara Danvers, was Cat's secret identity. 

_ “I can't…"  _ Cat sighed heavily into the phone, _ "damn it… I can't do this when I know you're right there when I want you here.” _

Kara sat up further, if she had her powers she could just zip over and no one would be the wiser. She looked to her window as she stood, already trying to navigate her way to Cat's room without being seen in her head.

" _ As much of an invitation as that is, I have no doubt there's plenty of people parked outside with telephoto lenses just waiting for something else to add to all of this." _

Kara sat back down with a slight bounce. "How did you know I would try?"

_ "Because I would."  _

Kara laid back on the bed with a huff, her emotions swirling this way and that as she listened to Cat's breathing over the phone. "Cat…"

The other woman pulled in a shudder of a breath letting it out slowly.  _ "This is going to be a little bit of hell for every one of us, you have to realize that." _

Kara closed her eyes, wishing she could teleport herself into Cat's room just to wrap her up and tell her it would all be okay. 

"I will be right there with you Cat, I promise. We all will, you have to believe that." 

Cat didn't answer and Kara turned over, pulling herself higher onto the bed before wrapping her arms around a pillow. Kara searched the empty space ahead of her, imagining the other woman lying there looking right back. 

They lingered in the silence for countless minutes before Cat drew in a breath to speak again. 

" _ You should try to sleep _ ."

Kara had already turned the speakerphone on, leaving her receiver beside the phone in order to hold onto the pillow in her grasp even tighter. 

"Can… will you stay on the phone with me?" Kara searched the vacancy ahead of herself again, closing her eyes away from the lack of Cat's presence and her lack of response. Kara knew it was needy, bordering on juvenile and-

" _ Okay _ ."

Kara let out a slow breath, hugging the pillow tighter trying to tune her hearing the to faint sounds of Cat on the other line. 


	24. Chapter 24

Alex padded across the room feeling more human than she had in a week. Her towel in hand, tamping the wet strands of her hair to soak up as much moisture as possible as she made her way across her bedroom. 

Out of the corner of her eye she caught the barest hint of movement and casually made her way to the nightstand as if getting a brush, instead closing her hand around her side arm before turning around ready to fire. 

Astra was just in her line of sight opposite the couch within her living room. Arms up, even if she knew were Alex to fire, the bullet would merely bounce off her body. Regardless it made her less threatening and with Alex's sudden curse to the heavens, Astra realized the tactic worked. 

“For fuck's sake, Astra!” Alex holstered her weapon, her towel forgotten as the Kryptonian backed up further as Alex started towards her. 

“I wanted to surprise you. You left so quickly from the Department of -"

“Yes” Alex cut Astra off, “because I wanted time to think, alone, and away from work.” Alex stopped short as her adrenaline fueled brain suddenly registered what Astra was holding. Her head tipped in confusion as she looked from the bundle of flowers towards the kryptonian and back again. 

“Are those…”

“Flowers.” Astra confirmed, before gradually bringing the grouping down and offering it to Alex. “I may have asked a few other individuals what the protocol was with wanting to show a hum… someone else appropriate affections towards them.”

Alex folded her lips in tightly, giving a curt nod as she hid a smile before gingerly taking the offered bouquet from Astra's hand. 

“I'm fairly certain you've made your intentions known.” Alex said with a slight flush to her cheeks as images of the other woman practically devouring her under the desk back the DEO spring to mind. 

As Alex moved away to find a vase of some sort Astra followed, lingering close enough to be felt while staying out of Alex's immediate vicinity so as not to impede what she was doing. 

“An intention to fuck someone is not the same as an intention of… genuine affection.”

Alex nearly dropped the vase in her hands with Astra's words, thankful the other woman's reflexes were still on point as Astra held the vase a breath above the ground where it would have otherwise shattered. 

“I did not say that correctly, did I?”

Alex floundered for a minute, trying to find the right words while Astra's proud stance fell with the drop of her shoulders. Alex pulled in a breath, turning on the faucet before gently taking the vase from Astra's hands. 

“You said it just fine,” Alex answered, unwrapping the flowers before setting them in the vase and moving it to the center of her island. Alex wasn’t sure how or what to say really to Astra’s variation of intentions, which also seemed to be a kind of confession towards her feelings. Feelings even Alex hadn’t fully sorted through herself to be honest.

She focused on the flowers, moving them around in the vase, occasionally stealing glances at Astra. While the more visceral parts of her started little fires across her nerves with her sense memory, the rest manifested itself with a warm flood of emotion flooding her chest and outward. 

Astra watched her carefully, already knowing those flowers would die off in a week or more uncertain as to why that was even a human custom considering how fleeting the message behind it was made. Perhaps the idea was to repeatedly buy them in order to show the consistency of their intent. If they were back on Krypton, there would be little to no chance someone like Alex would even be considered as a match for Astra or her house. 

Even her betrothal to Non had been a matter of control over him, as appointed by the council. Which eventually proved to be a kind of control over her as their general. While Astra had found it in herself to allow a certain kind of affection for him over time, that affection had all but shattered once they broke her free of Myriad. 

So much had been forced on her, controlled by others nearly her entire life until she wasn't; which had taken a kind of marooning on another planet across the galaxy to accomplish. When Alexandra had appeared initially, Astra had figured it to be one more thing trying to bend her knee. Some element sent by her niece to control her in the name of Earth and its inhabitants as her adopted people.

Once Alex had run her through with a sword made of Kryptonite, severing her from Myriad, the nightmare had ended, replaced by the horrific reality of what she had been responsible for. It was Alex, not J'onn or even Kara that had advocated for her. Alex, who had taken responsibility of her by giving Astra a position, a rank, a place within the DEO. 

From General to recruit in a split second; an enemy turned ally. While Kara had eventually come around. it was Alex that had pushed it. When others at the DEO had scoffed or refused to listen, it was Alex that set them straight. Were their positions reversed, Astra honestly couldn't be sure she would even consider the same mercy Alex had shown her. 

Astra had never expected to feel the things Alex woke up in her. Things she had long since thought were dead inside. Yet somewhere along the way Alex had gone from adversary to redeemer and mended parts of Astra she wasn't even aware were broken inside. Her attraction to the other woman was always there, even under the taint of Myriad, Alex was steel hearted and braver than even some of Astra's own soldiers from the start. 

Where she may have lacked in brawn she made up for it in intelligence, with an underlying compassion Astra had come to recognize first hand. 

As Alex glanced over at her now, Alex could feel those mended parts of her, reminding her she was just as human, just as frail and flawed as anyone else. She had no frame of reference to look back on for when her appreciation had shifted into affection, not could she say with certainty when it was exactly that she knew Alex was somehow meant for her. As if Rao were granting her a kind of mercy, whether she felt she deserved it or not. 

Astra's only fear, was whether Alex felt the same or if it was merely something as fleeting and recreational as the flowers between them now. She could live with that, to a point, but not without letting Alex know how she truly felt about her. That way, if Alex's overall intentions were empty, Astra could accommodate and eventually step away. 

"What?" Alex spoke so quietly Astra had to strain to catch the word. 

"I have not said anything." 

The corner of Alex's mouth twitched before she turned, grabbing some water from the fridge and setting a bottle down across from Astra. 

"I can't hear what you're thinking,"  _ 'thank god', _ Alex thought, "but I can feel it." 

Astra was immediately thankful for the water, her throat suddenly dry as she gingerly took hold of the thin plastic and twisted off the lid. She felt Alex's eyes on her as she took a sip, gathering her thoughts. 

"I do not know if that is a curse or a blessing."

"Which part?"

"Not being capable of hearing my thoughts or being capable of feeling them."

Alex pulled in a slow breath, watching Astra fidget with the lid and finding it endearing. Astra was nervous, apprehensive, behind a stoicism that typically frightened the hell out of some of the other agents. Whereas with Alex it only made her more intrigued. Whatever it was, was important, enough to essentially break into her apartment under risk of being shot just to bring her flowers. 

"Neither, or both." Alex answered causing thin lines of confusion to erupt across Astra's brow. "I… don't know what I would do if I could hear your thoughts. It would be interesting to say the least and a part of me can't help but wonder if they would be in Kryptonese."

Astra actually smiled, with a quiet amusement before turning her gaze down. "Perhaps they would."

"If the way you look at me," Alex continued with a hesitant edge, pulling Astra's gaze back to her. "Tells me anything, I think it might be a blessing." 

Astra swallowed hard, setting her water down carefully before drawing closer to the other woman who made no motion to back away. 

"I think it would be easier, if you could read them, but not nearly as satisfying as being able to tell you, Alexandra."

Alex's eyes fluttered with the sound of her name spoken with such reverence. Her body warming all over again with Astra's nearness. "What… what would you tell me?"

"You are incredible," Astra breathed, hearing Alex's heartbeat stutter to catch up to itself. "That I do not deserve anything you have shown towards me." 

Alex bit back the sound of a whimper that rose up from her chest, her water suddenly forgotten as Astra invaded her space like she always did. Trembling fingertips reached out to her, caressing the side of her face like the first time Astra had ever touched her. Only this time Alex didn't pull away. 

"I… I'm your superior, the other agents may not understand-"

"I will step away, I survived for years on this planet, I am more than capable-"

"No…I just,  _ we'll _ have to figure it out is what I meant." Alex rushed, stepping closer until their bodies were almost touching. "One of the best parts of my day is knowing you're right there Astra." 

Astra tipped her head as Alex moved, guiding the hand at her face lower before setting it around her own waist. Astra searched her features desperately, looking for more direction until Alex set her hand along her chest over the sigil of her House. Alex pressed her fingers against the shield, her palm vibrating from the heavy thunder of Astra's heartbeat beneath it. 

"A part of me, deep down, wanted you from the moment I met you." Alex felt Astra draw in a sharp breath, her eyes never lifting above the sigil. "As if I knew, deep down inside,  _ that _ woman wasn't the real you." 

Alex's hand moved, sliding up along Astra's body, fingers curled pulling at her suit until the neckline gave way, revealing the start of the scar that still remained burned into Astra's skin. Her mark, the one she had branded Astra with over a year ago. A jagged imperfection along an otherwise perfect plain. 

Astra breathed harder, her insides turning over and twisting about at the barest touch of Alex's fingers against that mark. While it had healed she could still feel it every day, a constant reminder of the monster she had been. 

Alex leaned in, placing the softest of kisses along the scar as Astra trembled beneath her touch. Astra's hands lifted on instinct, hovering so close to touching as Alex's lips sent waves of fire across her skin and through her body along the scar all the way to the other side. 

"I wish I could hear what you are thinking Alexandra, even if I could not withstand whatever truth it held." Astra prayed silently, finger drifting into Alex's hair as she pulled the suit lower and kissed the scar there again. 

Alex drew back slowly, finger tracing along the scar with enough pressure to make Astra whine in response. "I'm thinking that I… have a genuine affection for you too Astra… maybe even more than that, and I'm scared to say how much more, because I don't feel deserving of it."

Astra's chest gave under the pressure, and Alex pushed up as Astra pulled her in close. Their lips met tentatively at first, uncertain but willing. Alex wrapped her arms around Astra's body, urging her closer as she kissed her again. 

"Stay with me?" Alex whispered, nuzzling Astra's features. "Even if we just lay in bed?"

Astra kissed Alex again, drawing her in on her next breath before nodding against the other woman. 


	25. Chapter 25

The following morning was a whirlwind that carried everyone well into the afternoon. 

Once the group had been checked out and cleared for travel they were put on a plane and flown back to National City where Alex and other members of the DEO, masquerading as the FBI, had met them.

From there they were brought downtown to the DEO headquarters, through the underground parking lot to save face and given another thorough once over before gradually being released to their families. 

All except Kara, as the bulk of her family resided at the DEO. Which wouldn't have been so bad, had she been given the opportunity to say goodbye to everyone from her group. It was explained away with her still exhibiting signs of some kind of illness and wanting the others to be safe rather than sorry. Kara would see them back at CatCo eventually, but that little act had lowered her spirits more than she cared to admit. 

Despite Alex's best effort, Kara couldn't help but feel like a medical experiment. Prone on a metal table, surrounded by sunlamps, all manner of equipment taped and hooked up to her body as they tried to determine how to kick-start her powers again. 

Luckily her immune system had taken an upturn, whether that was due to the treatment rounds Alex had started with her and Astra months ago for this very scenario or Cat's insistence on loading her down with vitamins and immune boosters over the past seventy-two hours was anyone's guess. 

While she felt warmer than she had since even taking a shower back at the hotel, she still didn't feel like herself. The constant influx of sunlight and the typical energized sensation she carried with her still evasive as she lay on the table. Kara heard the door nearby slide open, eyes still focused on the ceiling as she watched shadows dance about. 

"Nothing's changed," Kara offered, flexing her hands a bit before letting out a heavy sigh. 

"That's too bad, I was hoping for a tour." 

The sound of the sunlamps clanging together as Kara collided with them echoed in her head before gentle hands filtered into her hair to keep her steady. The direction of the lamps shifted before Cat swam into Kara's vision. 

"Although, if you're concussed I don't think that's the smartest idea."

"What… oh God, what're you doing here?" Kara sat up on her elbows as Cat easily tucked strands of her hair behind her ear. 

"Refusing to take no for an answer," Astra's voice sounded and Kara swallowed hard, this was not a good sign. 

"I'd like to think I was very diplomatic." Cat stated easily, as if she wasn't in the middle of some secret government facility surrounded by aliens. 

Astra actually chortled and even Kara had to turn to look at her aunt to make sure she had heard it. 

"Threats are not diplomatic but you managed to get your point across rather valiantly I must admit."

Cat smirked faintly looking back at Kara before nodding towards Astra. "She's very protective of you." 

"I… well... she... yes?"

Astra let out a slow breath, glancing between the two. "I will be just outside. You have ten minutes." 

The instant the door shut Kara moved to sit up further, mindful of the lamps as she swung her legs around only to have Cat press herself against Kara's knees, hands coming to rest on either side of the table around her. 

Kara swallowed hard, watching Cat carefully. "What did you do?"

"Nothing you wouldn't, then again maybe you would. Either way, I'm here." 

Relief flooded Kara's features, her body caving slightly as Cat took her in. 

"You look better."

"I am, but… honestly how did you get them to let you in here? What about Carter and the others are they-"

"The rest have gone home, and Carter is with your sister in that nightmare they call a cafeteria." Cat looked up at the other woman, the corner of her mouth lifting slightly at how confused and innocent she looked. It was a far better sight than what she had been, pale and almost gaunt as if her body had turned on her for its own energy reserves. 

"That doesn't answer the question."

Cat let out a deep exhale, jaw flexing for a moment before she gestured absently. "I waited until I could corner your sister and then that tree of a woman out there came to her defense until I told them both I knew exactly who you were and needed to make sure you were alright."

"Cat…"

Cat left out the part where the threat of having her memory erased was lobbed her way along with all manner of other things intent on making her back down. Now was not the time to get into that.

"I promised I would behave, after all you are also an employee of CatCo, you're my responsibility. I may have also reiterated how difficult it would be to explain your absence out of everyone else away since we've all been in the news recently. So they gave a little, I gave a little more and here we are."

Kara leaned forward without warning, drawing Cat to her with the parting of her knees so that Cat might fit between them as Kara kissed the life out of her. Cat hummed with surprise, hands settling around Kara's sides as she stepped closer, pulling Kara down with her a little further as she kissed her back with a desperate edge. 

The machine nearby ramped up exponentially, registering Kara's heartbeat and other vitals until Cat gave a hint of a laugh and broke away. 

"Sorry, I shouldn't have done that," Kara said as her vitals slowly dropped to normal. " but… thank you."

Cat let out a breathy laugh, hands flexing around Kara's sides before she stepped back and away. "Your level of gratitude is noted, but I didn't do anything beyond being a bit petty, which I will apologize to your sister for, eventually."

"I would've been back at CatCo first thing and-"

"We would have a whole other issue on our hands given your penchant for thank you's and my willingness to accept them from you." Cat cleared her throat softly. 

Kara couldn't help her smile both their gazes drifting to the monitor as her heart rate spiked again. 

"Kara, I need you to listen to me very carefully." 

Cat's words and slight shift in tone pulled at Kara's chest, her hands coming together in her lap as she waited for what felt like some kind of death blow. 

"I don't know how all this is going to work out. With CatCo, legal, the board... what happened to us was not exactly a positive thing." Cat had already stopped taking the boards calls, fielding them through James who was keeping her aware through text messages. 

"I'm going to do everything that I can to protect you, all of you, and take care of you all however is deemed appropriate. I don't know how long it's going to take or what that will mean for us…"

Kara's brow furrowed as she listened, the heavy weight of reality and the situation they had been put in, put CatCo in falling on her shoulders. "Cat…"

Cat swallowed thickly, squaring her shoulders. "You have to trust me, and remember what I said last night."

"I do trust you, if this" Kara gestured around the room, "isn't proof of that-"

"It's not that simple, it could be but we're not the only players in this little game."

"Game? What game? There's no game here, we’re talking about people lives and well being and-"

"Money and publicity and lawsuits and all those little needles that make my world impossible to understand sometimes."

"This is ridiculous," Kara said around an incredulous breath of a laugh. "What could have possibly happened in the time we were reported rescued?"

"Plenty, and the less you know the better you are for it." Cat wavered close again, fingertips delicately brushing across Kara's face. "And no, you can't help me with this, not this time Kara, so whatever little plan you're starting to formulate, stop." 

"Cat you're scaring me,"

Cat leaned in one more time, placing the softest of kisses against Kara's lips. "Just breathe, and get better, it's my turn to put on a suit."

Kara watched as Cat slipped away, knocking on the door to be let out. Just as Astra stepped back inside to escort her out Kara slid off the table, leads popping off her body and scattering about as she made a hard line for Cat before turning her around and kissing her breathless all over again. 

Astra muttered something in her native tongue while the agent just beyond stared before looking around for whatever interesting noise he suddenly heard. 

Cat let out a muffled sound, hands tightening around Kara's arms before she gave in and pulled Kara closer. 

"Honestly, you give an inch, she takes a mile. I settled on ten minutes for the least amount of exposure given who and what Cat is and-holy shit!"

Kara righted Cat slowly, despite Alex's outburst before Cat set a hand on the flat of Kara's chest and separated the two of them. 

Alex just stared, watching Kara fawn over Cat like some lost puppy before somehow managing to step closer to the pair. 

"This is why you wanted ten minutes?!"

Cat turned, wiping the swell of her bottom lip with her thumb before leveling Alex with a bit of a glare. 

"You should not be so upset Brave One, we managed far more in that time frame than they did."

That brought everyone to a standstill, all eyes turning to Astra before moving over to Alex. 

"Excuse me, what?!" Kara shouted, and Alex tried her damndest to keep her expression impassive. 

"I believe that's our cue to leave." Cat offered towards her escort who looked rather confused at the sudden shift in tension and the glaring look Alex sent her. 

Kara started to follow until Alex stepped in front of her. "Kara…"

Kara glanced down at Alex's hand on her arm before prying her limb away, catching a final glimpse of Cat who looked back at her before mouthing for her to behave. 

Kara watched Cat disappear with another step, suddenly lost all over again before turning her gaze to Alex who merely looked right back at her. 

  
  



	26. Chapter 26

“Astra!”

The woman looked over, Cat still by her side as Carter came barreling into her the instant they set foot in the cafeteria. Given the agreement Cat and Alex had come to, Astra hadn’t really seen a reason to walk her through the labyrinth of corridors back to where her son resided in order to keep more of this facility and its inner workings from her; opting instead of the simple and direct approach. 

Cat tried to keep her curiosity contained, looking over the facility with a critical eye. The part that had promised to protect and keep Kara, her secrets and those around her safe, holding back the reporter in her that wanted to run a full expose'. 

Cat was jostled from her thoughts with the sudden impact of her son, not around her but of the woman leading her about. 

“Oof! Such strength little one. You nearly knocked me over that time.” Astra said with a warm smile, fingers running through Carter's hair with a familiarity that reminded Cat of a similar scene involving Kara not too long ago. 

Cat watched confused, looking at her son and the other woman before Carter stepped back with a grin. 

“She's Supergirl's Aunt, and a General.” Carter explained as if Cat should have already known. 

“I see,” Cat looked over at the other woman, seeing the quiet sadness behind her eyes as Carter tucked himself against his mother and hugged her tightly. 

“I met her on the first day here. She promised you would be all right before she had to go help Supergirl around the city,” Carter continued as Cat wrapped her arms around his shoulders. He was taller now, nearly sixteen but still full of awe and wonder for someone like Astra despite the reasons they were even here in the first place. 

“I suppose I should thank her then, for keeping you occupied.” Cat knew what promises were to Carter. His father had broken them enough and sadly so had she once or twice. They were his first indicator of value in a person, of how much Carter could invest of himself in them, and Astra had clearly made an impression. Then again, anyone associated with Supergirl, much less related to her would do that for someone like her son. 

Cater nodded, refusing to let his mother go. “I knew I wouldn't have to worry. Not that I did, you're plenty capable in any situation.”

Astra smirked softly, watching the pair while Cat gave her son a knowing look before hugging him a little tighter. 

“Gee, thanks.”

“We should make our way out,” Astra said after another moment, seeing the faint look of disappointment on Carter's features. “Do not look so crestfallen Carter of House Grant, we will meet again, of that I have no doubt.” Astra looked up at Cat then, her words carrying a double meaning that the other woman easily caught. “Especially if I know my niece.”

Cat arched a high brow at what felt almost like a veiled threat, eyeing the taller woman for a moment. There was no secret to be had considering what Astra had undoubtedly heard and witnessed as soon as Cat had stepped back through the doorway of Kara's room. She just hadn't expected _that_ particular vein of conversation to start quite so soon. She knew another encounter would be coming from Alexandra about Cat's intentions or what-have-you concerning Kara, now she could add her super powered Aunt to the list. Although, honestly Cat felt more concerned about Kara's sister than she did this supposed General right now.

***

“Did you f-”

“Kara, if you finish that sentence, I swear to God.”

Kara shifted her jaw, sitting back on the table once more as Alex re-affixed the leads along her body. 

“She's my aunt.”

“I'm well aware.” Alex said with a terse edge, taping another lead against Kara's chest, waiting for the monitors to register her vitals. 

"I was barely gone three days. Did you two just wait until I was gone or-”

“This isn't about you, Kara.”

“The hell it isn't, she's my family, _you're_ my family-”

“And we're all fucking adults aren't we?” Alex chided as she taped on another lead. “Hold still…”

Kara moved away, pulling another lead off with a wince as Alex stepped back. 

“What are you five? Astra is her own person, she and I aren't beholden to you, nor do we need your permission.”

“Actually _she_ does. I'm the matriarch of our House-”

“Really?! You're going to pull some kind of dutiful rank here? This isn't Krypton Kara, those stupid rules don't apply here on Earth!”

Kara looked as if she had been struck and Alex swore at herself before shaking her head. 

“I... I'm sorry-”

“Don't be,” Kara snapped back, snatching the lead from Alex's hand before pressing it onto her skin where it had pulled free and left a mark. “There. All better now.” Kara shifted roughly, laying back on the table and glaring up at the ceiling. 

“Kara,” Alex drew in a deep breath, despite the warning of her tone she knew she needed to stay calm and stay rational. Kara's sudden emotional turn wasn't unexpected, even without Cat in the mix. She was traumatised, as were the others and right now lashing out was an easy distraction from facing that down. 

“Get out.”

Alex stared at her sister, watching her jaw work and her hands flex over and over again into fists. 

“No.”

“I said get out Alex.”

“And I said no. This isn't about me or Astra, this about you and I'm not leaving until you tell me what the hell is going on.”

“You'll be waiting a while,” Kara snarked, pulling a sunlamp over her face before Alex moved it away roughly. 

“You don't get to take your shit out on me, not like this Kara, and I'm not just going to leave you here to wallow and suffer. You say it'll be a while? Fine, I'll wait, because I'm your sister and you're hurting and I love you.” 

Kara's jaw shifted as she pulled in a sharp breath, not daring to look at Alex. She knew she was being petulant and throwing a tantrum, she should be happy, a little out of sorts considering who it involved but not outright mean.

In a way it was an odd taste of her own medicine, maybe not as far as relationships went, but more along the line of making something seem so effortless like being a superhero versus being simply human. She knew Alex had her own issues with that, of being _that_ sister. Always looking up to the sky, always wishing a part of her was just like Kara. It had followed both of them all their lives together. 

Hell, Alex wouldn't even be in the DEO much less it's director if it wasn't for her. There were so many things Alex had suffered and hurt for because of Kara; it seemed almost karmic for their positions to be reversed now. 

“Kara…” Alex breathed, seeing tears break past her eyes as she pulled a stool closer. “Talk to me, I'm right here.”

“I think, I'm in love with Cat.”

Alex drew in a deep breath, carefully setting a hand on Kara's forearm. “I'd say that was obvious. When did that thunderbolt strike you?”

“Five minutes after I met her.”

Alex let out a breath of a laugh, thankful for the sudden drop in tension between them. “Kara…”

Kara shook her head, blinking through the haze as she took a deep breath. “When I realized that she's going to leave.”

Alex frowned. “Leave? Kara she's just going home-”

“She's going to leave CatCo.”

“Did she tell you this?”

“She doesn't have to. She was already considering it before this stupid trip.”

“This is Cat Grant we’re talking about here, Queen of all Media, daughter of National City, Supergirl's biggest critic... she's not just going to leave that all behind.”

Kara couldn't help the laugh that escaped her. Twisted and broken, holding no real warmth or amusement. 

Cat was so right. 

Everyday for her was like living as someone else, something else. Clark had shown her Jor-El's teachings about not being Superman all the time. How it would break them, leave them no room for the smaller, finer things in life. A constant struggle of being needed by everyone all at once that couldn't be escaped. Their secret identities were a lifeline, that no matter what they were to Earth and its people, they still had to be who they were beyond the cape and the powers. 

“A year ago I might have agreed with you.” Kara said after a minute, giving a small shake of her head. “Everything is different now, harder… complicated.”

“I'll admit, it's not exactly an ideal situation, but Kara you're making it sound hopeless.”

“Maybe it is.” Kara shrugged, throwing her hands up “Maybe it's hopeful, that the idea is there even if it can't be a reality.” Kara looked over at Alex then. “Not like with you and Astra.”

Alex let out a sigh, Kara was jealous, in an odd and somewhat irrational way but it was there and Alex knew better than anyone what that felt like, especially in comparison to Kara. “Kara, this isn’t a competition. Not in any way.”

Alex took hold of her sister's hand, squeezing gently. "I could say it just happened, but that would be lying. These things don't just happen, even you know that. Five minutes in or not."

Kara shook her head again, using her other hand to wipe her face. "So you've been keeping it from me? Great.."

"No, have I been keeping my fears and confusion and self loathing from you, yes, but something like that? With someone like Astra? No, that I wouldn't keep. It would be hard but I wouldn't not tell you Kara."

"Yeah only after-"

"Not only after, it was the first thing I wanted to do, not to throw it in your face or even to just freak out about it in a good way but _because_ it's Astra and who she is and what she is to you. Not to mention what you are to me, you're my baby sister." 

Kara squeezed Alex's hand back gently while keeping silent with that one. They both knew Kara was older technically, but still. 

"As hard as it would be, might even still be, Kara I couldn't stand it if you weren't somewhat okay with… that."

"I wouldn't do that…" Kara whispered, glancing over to Alex. 

"Good, cause I'm not so sure I'm fond of you and Cat but maybe I'll make the exception."

Kara rolled her eyes, and under any other circumstance it would be worthy of throwing a pillow at Alex, now it just made Kara's chest hurt. 

"There is no me and Cat… there might have been, but-"

"That's not what I saw." Alex whistled low and Kara couldn't help the faint pull of a smile to her mouth. "You're really just going to give up? Even when just the thought of her makes your heart skip?"

"You're cheating."

"Yeah well, you're obvious either way."

Kara huffed out a breath, drawing Alex's hand to her chest and holding it there tightly. "She's done so much for me, if this… if this is what she needs I'm not going to hold her back. I couldn't do that to her."

Alex let out another whistle, pulling Kara's attention again. "You've got it bad sis."

Kara rolled her eyes, letting her laugh escape. "At least we need more than ten minutes."A

Alex looked down with a shake of her head, of all the things Astra could have possibly said in that moment. "It was more than ten damn minutes."

"Okay, fair warning, you know I can beat her in a fight. You've seen it."

Alex chuckled. "Oh yeah? How do you know she didn't lose on purpose?"

"Listen she hits really stupid hard. General or not she didn't exactly scale down during that fight."

"Uh huh, okay." 

"Oh shut up… I need a hug."

"Good thing I'm here then." Alex said, pulling Kara up by their joined hands before wrapping her up tightly. Kara squeezed back just as hard, unafraid of hurting Alex in the process. "It's going to be okay, I know it."

Kara just nodded, wrapping her sister up and holding her closer. 


	27. Chapter 27

Monday morning came and went and as Kara sat in her apartment now, just shy of eight o'clock, she watched the snippets of Cat's interview from this morning on some other station. She had gotten a call from HR, followed by another from legal, granting her paid time leave for however long she needed with a tentative meeting by Friday for those who felt up for it to go over any possible lawsuits or allocations. 

Lucy being who she was, had given Kara a little more than just a would be appointment, letting her know that none of the others had even considered any kind of action against CatCo or the Lodge. Nor were they going to pursue it. 

It was an odd win, where most other companies might have to deal with fall out and the subsequent payout for whatever damages had been wrought. Instead, or so Lucy stated in far more complicated terms, that the others were only seeking the time lost and any coverage towards medical expenses that might arise. 

Kara knew she would follow their example, there was no reason behind anything like that against CatCo, Cat or anyone else for that matter. It meant the others were still talking to each other, despite being away from the office, although they hadn't looped her in on the conversation. Which she shouldn't have minded, were she not alone with no word from Cat beyond the fleeting moment at the DEO. 

Cat was doing what she did best, putting a face and a voice out there for them and National City. She was undoubtedly spending as much time as possible with her son while trying to circumvent whatever was being thrown at her back at work like the hero she was. 

Kara had caught herself wanting to text or call but never followed through. Cat had told her to trust her, to follow her lead and as such she would wait until Cat could remove her own mantle and allow herself to just be. However, there was a part of Kara that worried Cat wouldn't take the time, that stepping back into her persona despite the toll it would take just to save the rest of them from the scrutiny would become all consuming with little room for anything else. National City's tireless matriarch, it was as grotesque as it was inspiring. 

Kara was pulled from her thoughts with the sound of a knock, her attention shifting as she tried to see through the door letting out a heavy sigh when she couldn't. 

"Coming," 

Kara didn't bother with the viewfinder, unlatching the lock before holding the thing open. 

"I have brought your favorites."

Kara frowned in confusion at the sight of her aunt and what looked like ten different varieties of food piled in her arms. 

"I saw your paramore, she is still at the office." Astra supplied as Kara followed behind her. 

"You really shouldn't do that."

"It is no trouble, she is right where we are helping after all." Astra said as she set down the cornucopia of food. "And it would be dishonorable not to wave back."

"Wave back?" Kara was already grabbing plates, her stomach making itself known as Astra unbagged food and opened containers, filling Kara's apartment with a scent to rival Hell's Kitchen. "She did not wave at you."

"She did so, Little One." Astra offered, popping a potsticker into her mouth with an appreciative sound. "And asked for me to tell you hello."

That stopped Kara cold, the potsticker in her hand falling back to her plate. Astra looked between it and Kara before straightening with a hearty swallow. "She has not spoken to you since yesterday has she?"

Kara shook her head, reclaiming her food with less enthusiasm before biting into it. 

"I see." Astra gave a small nod, brushing her hands off on her suit before turning and making for the nearest window. 

"What, whoa, wait! What're you doing?" While Kara didn't have super speed she still managed to get ahead of Astra before she vaulted out the window. 

"I am going to retrieve her for you. So she can join us… join you, here, with dinner, and-"

"You can't just  _ retrieve _ her, Astra. It doesn't work like that."

"I do not understand." 

"She's working-"

"Yes, and you miss her and she misses you. She should tell you hello in person but you cannot go to her as you would to her balcony so I will-"

"Stay right here and let her work."

Astra frowned, studying her niece carefully. "Do you wish she were here Kara?"

"Yes…" 

"Then why are you stopping me? You have feelings for her, the depths of which I will not attempt to navigate, but you do and she should be here. It is a common human thing, not unlike Krypton, to share meals and affections, it is… what is the word.."

"A date."

"Yes, a... a date." Astra nodded and moved again before Kara stopped her with a hand to her chest. 

"If she could be here, she would have called me or texted me." 

Astra made a face, such primitive technologies, Astra would have to do something about that. The communication systems here were just so lacking. Not like on Krypton, one could spend an entire day with another through a sun crystal transmitter and almost not realize they were alone in separate spaces. 

"This is all very confusing, and frustrating. If it is frustrating to me it must be infuriating to you."

Astra wasn't entirely wrong. 

"I know you mean well and you want to help, but this is a different kind of problem Astra. It requires a delicate kind of understanding."

Astra made a face giving a small shake of her head. "Do not mistake me for a brute Kara, I am well adept in more sensitive areas."

Kara gave a small sigh, her hand falling away. "I'm sorry, I know, but humans-"

"Are a thing unto themselves, but Kara, you are my family, you are hurting. I can see it in every ounce of you, and I saw it in her despite being hundreds of feet off the ground and a few dozen more aside from her."

Kara gave a small shrug to that, her heart aching with the truth of Astra's words. 

"If it were Alexandra, I would let you help, if I were powerless and she-"

Kara held up a hand stopping her Aunt short. "I know… trust me and don't think there won't come a time when I end up bringing her to you."

Astra rose a high brow, her head tilting curiously with the proverbial but hanging in the air silently between them. 

"If you hurt her Astra, I swear to Rao-"

Astra practically beamed with the threat giving Kara a gentle shove before Kara let out a small shout of surprise before Astra grabbed for her before she fell over. 

Kara was immediately pulled into a hug, Astra holding her tight enough to break a rib were she human. 

"If that is your blessing, Little One, I will gladly take it." 

Kara let out a small  _ 'oof' _ as Astra righted her again, feeling a bit dizzy before the words Astra spoke actually struck her. 

"Is that what all this is for?" Kara asked, gesturing towards the banquet on the island. 

"In part. I wanted to make sure you were all right, and to help you in any way I could but I know our traditions, and Alexandra mentioned something about-"

"Astra I would never," Kara said, drawing the other woman to her again in a fierce hug. "What I said to Alex I said in anger, jealousy, not because I would deny you or her that. I'm sorry."

"Kara, do not apologize, it is your right and our way-"

"It's archaic and cruel, I never liked our rights of courtship or betrothal." 

"They had their purpose once long ago," Astra gave a soft laugh, hugging Kara a little tighter. "Alexandra and I have not ventured anywhere near either of those two possibilities regardless. But with her mention, I had thought perhaps they were something you were holding on to."

Kara shook her head, leaning back again as she looked at her Aunt. "There are some things yes, but not that."

Astra gave a solid nod, leaning in to place a soft kiss against Kara's forehead. Kara relaxed into the feeling, letting Astra's warmth and love for her soothe her nerves about Cat. 

"Are you certain that you wish me to stay? It would be ever so quick and easy to bring Cat here."

Kara drew in a deep breath, taking a moment to consider the offer before giving a small shake of her head. "As much as I want that, I have to let her set this pace, for now. Besides, we have not spent as much time together as we should, or I might not have been so blindsided with your earlier confession."

"It was not a confession Little One, it was the truth." Astra said, an arm wrapped around Kara's shoulder as they moved towards the kitchen again. "I still do not understand how you did not see even the slightest hint of it. I taught you better than that."

"Yes well, you also taught me to willfully ignore things too, so blame yourself for that one."

Astra gave a soft laugh, nudging Kara's side before they parted around the island buffet. "Now then, if you are indeed resigned to spending your evening with an old General instead of your-"

"Cat…"

"Instead of with Cat… you can educate me on the proper etiquette of these finer items here, " Astra gestured to the food. "Alexandra provided the list, and I must say beyond the potsuckers I am at a loss."

"Stickers," Kara corrected with a gentle laugh before looking around at the food. "Ok then, for one the potstickers are more like a starter, not a meal, although I would like to argue that."

"I see."

"Next starter, are these delightful things," Kara stated, plucking a fried mushroom from a tray. "They're a fungus, rooted in the earth but when they're made like this and dipped in this stuff…" Kara dipped the item in whatever sauce was provided and popped one in her mouth with a hum with appreciation. "So good."

Astra followed suit, she had eaten plenty of oddities in her lifetime as a soldier and this was far better than any of that. 

"Does Alexandra enjoy these?" Astra asked absently, glancing over at Kara who gave a small smile. 

"Not really, but I'll let you know her list too, for future reference."

Astra grinned, popping another fried mushroom into her mouth.   
  



	28. Chapter 28

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Work has been crazy and my brain has refused to function but here we are :)

Kara ducked low, ducking the swing at her head, fists striking at the center and side of the other woman in front of her before she pivoted out of the way and up. A boot against her mid-back sent her stumbling forward, getting her feet under her in haste, she used the momentum to carry her further away as a rush of air registered behind her with a missed hit from her opponent. 

Kara twisted and pushed off the wall barreling into her attacker. Arms and legs grappled around the other woman as she shifted their combined weight before landing hard on the ground on top of the other woman. Hands shoved at her abdomen, nearly knocking the wind out of her before a knee landed at her side. Kara followed through with the hit, rolling out of the way from a fist slamming into the ground meant for her chest. 

Kara pushed up, crouching low on the ground as her attacker regrouped and lunged for her. Hands grappled at her biceps, her own holding fast to strong shoulders as the two women struggled to get the upper hand. Kara jumped up, dodging the sweep of a leg, turning roughly with a pull against her arms. 

She hooked her leg behind the other woman’s knee, bending them backward and down on one knee before a boot found her midsection and vaulted her over. The world spun for a moment as Kara was upended, landing on her back with a solid thud before her attacker back flipped over, landing square on her solar plexus. 

The other woman was too high to reach with her legs, arms pinned by their knees before crossed arms pressed against her throat. Kara fought and struggled, refusing to yield, she bucked hard but her attacker held firm, closing their legs around her torso. 

"Yield."

"No." Kara said through gritted teeth, lifting her hips enough to pull her legs up higher, nearly bending herself in half as she wrapped them around the other woman and pushed with all her might to force the other woman back. She locked her ankles and shifted her weight, letting out a shout of frustrated effort as she thrashed harder until their positions were nearly reversed. 

Her arms were pinned across her chest, wrists held tight enough to bruise and instead of struggling she let her upper body go limp, giving her just enough of an advantage to headbutt the other woman with a solid crack. 

Both women fell aside. 

Kara's legs stayed locked while her hands reached up towards the pounding of her own skull. "Oh Rao bless it…"

Astra winced sharply, her hand slapping at Kara's thigh until she was released. She turned over on her back, body curling slightly as she tried to regain her bearings and not vomit, one hand palming her forehead. 

"K-dampeners off," Kara sounded, and as the green lit room faded back to normal the worst of Kara's instant headache abated. 

"That was dirty," Astra stated, rubbing the tingling feeling aside as her powers returned. She sat up easily before crawling over to Kara and gently pulling her head into her lap. "And reckless."

"I know," Kara said, still holding her head in her hands. Two weeks and the full breadth of her powers had yet to return. Even now, she knew her head would feel as if it were full of Jell-O for the rest of the day with that little manuver. "But it worked."

"It did not," Astra soothed, ready to call in Alex for help. "If your opponent regained their bearings before you, you would be exposed and vulnerable." Astra checked over Kara with her x-ray vision, thankful nothing was broken but she had no doubt there would be bruises. "You cannot allow your frustrations to get in the way of your judgement, Kara."

"I know," Kara said again with an exhasperated edge. 

Astra gently pried Kara's hands aside, gently touching the point of impact only to have Kara wince. If they were lucky this would only last a couple hours. Kara's abilities were in an odd flux. She couldn't fly, couldn't breathe ice or shoot fire from her eyes, she had the occasional burst of speed but it left her tired afterward. Her strength and overall physical wellbeing were seemingly fine but even that waxed and waned like the phases of the moon. 

"I know you know all things," Astra leaned in and placed the barest of kisses against Kara's head. "But you are also so much like me it is a bit daunting."

"Mother would not approve." 

Astra smiled to herself, knowing how wrong Kara was. "Not to your face, no." 

Kara let out a sigh, letting her eyes close in an effort to will the driving thud of her skull away. 

"She was the one often getting into more trouble than it was worth, not that she would ever tell you." Astra gently threaded her fingertips through Kara's hair, feeling her body start to relax at the touch. 

"Your Cat has not contacted you much if at all, has she?" Astra knew the answer, it was one of the added benefits to being involved with Alexandra after all. 

Kara hummed out a noise that Astra took for a yes to her question as she continued to gently pet her fingers through Kara's hair. 

"Archaic flitters of text I imagine, it is a valiant effort but not one she can hope to maintain with any sanity." 

"I haven't exactly tried either, and were I capable of flying I might just call her on her separative protective behavior but-"

"I can always help with that, you realize."

"Not the same if I have to have you come back to pick me up."

"Who says I would? She has more than one balcony from what I have witnessed."

"You witnessed?"

"She is important to you, she is a central figure of this metropolis and as such she is in need of the occasional looking after."

"Astra you didn't."

"What? Without you in the sky it is my duty to patrol this place you call home you realize. I cannot help it if her dwelling happens to cross that path."

Kara sat up slowly, Astra helping her part of the way before she turned to look at her Aunt. "Have you talked to her?"

Astra shook her head. "Not directly. She talks to you, often. Although I have not determined if she is hoping that it is you and not me flying past or if she is trying to gain some kind of intel on how you and I interact."

"How long has she-"

"Since the first time she said to tell you hello."

Kara tipped her head in confusion. "And you didn't think to mention this?"

"It had not come up until now."

"Astra."

Astra rose a high brow. "It is not my place to play messenger, Little One. Be it confessional or conversational, she should be telling you these things, not me." 

Astra had a point, Kara didn't like it but it was there. Normally when Cat had something to say to someone she up and said it without fear or remorse. This made her wonder if all the things between them back in the mountains had merely been due to opportunity and circumstance and not something deeper. 

"Whatever you are questioning does not have merit Kara."

"How would you know? Cat's been professing whatever for weeks and you've said nothing which means I've said nothing to her when she  _ has _ managed to reach out. No wonder she hasn't called or-"

"Her position is far more dangerous than yours. You know this, deep down. It is one of your own reasons for not acting on your own emotions and feelings before now."

Kara flexed her jaw, eyeing Astra for a moment before looking away. 

"It is… difficult to come to terms with something that one feels is unobtainable. Whether it is because they feel undeserving or there are more things in play than just two people."

Kara looked back at Astra then, knowing she was making a dual point both about Cat and herself. 

"Even when it just might be the best gift in the world, it is not without consequence and sacrifice and a little humility along the way."

"You've done more than your fair share Astra."

"Indeed, it took a little bit of dying to understand it but even then I still did not act for years." Astra reached over then, brushing her fingers across Kara's cheek. "You have done the same, for longer. I know you look up to me but you do not need to emulate me with such gusto."

Kara couldn't help the smirk that fell across her mouth, giving a small shake of her head. She drew in a deep breath, the ache in her head a dull thimble of a thing now. "Will you tell me then? The things she said? Just, just so I know how to-"

"Promise me one thing Little One?"

"What?"

"You will remember she has to grow into her happiness, just as you do."

Kara frowned at that, searching out Astra's features for more context before giving a small nod. "I promise…"

\-------

Cat collapsed back into the bed, grabbing the nearest pillow to wrap her arms around as she brought it over herself. The hour was far too late for her to be awake but she blamed that on the no show of Astra's overnight patrol. She dated for a moment to think perhaps that meant Kara would be the one to cross the skyline but alas neither woman had shown. 

Regardless Cat waited, leaving her words to the stars tonight out of habit for saying them for so many nights in a row now. Part of her had expected Kara to call, to text even to show up unannounced with the things she had given out and instead she had only gotten a few simple sentences to the texts she had lobbed Kara's way. 

Cat knew she wasn't being fair, she wasn't even doing this right. All things considered she didn't even know if Kara knew the things she had uttered to her own Aunt, and part of her hoped she didn't and that was the real reason behind the vacancy she felt. 

Her mind shifted to the knock at her door, wondering why Carter was even up at this hour. 

"I'm up…" she said after a long moment. 

Carter eased in slowly, he really was getting tall, which would only help him in the months ahead. Loathe as she was to admit that much. 

"I gathered that by your light."

"How astute." 

Carter ambled over, dropping down on the bed on his stomach, jostling them both about. Cat used her pillow to thwap him gently before drawing it back to her to hug.

"Rude."

Carter grinned sleepily, propping himself up on his arms as he looked at his mother. 

"Can I help you in any way?"

Carter smirked, looking his mother over before giving a shake of his head. "Thought maybe I could help you."

"Meaning?"

"I'm just wondering how long you're going to hold out for whatever sake you've convinced yourself of before you give yourself permission to ask Kara over."

This time she threw the pillow at him. Hearing him laugh behind the muffled down before folding the thing over and tucking it under himself. 

"Don't be ridiculous, what would ever put those kinds of things in your head, honestly."

"Mom," Carter said with a serious, warning tone. "Your voice carries on the balcony at night." 

Cat stayed silent for a moment before pushing up onto her arms to look at him more directly. "Who says I'm talking to anybody?"

"You're not the only one who knows she flies by here."

Cat frowned, her heart skipping a beat or two. "Carter-"

"Really? C'mon Mom, they're the same person. We both know that."

"You've been-"

"Paying attention. None of the others from CatCo went beyond that fake room that looked like some kind of cheap government conference room, but thanks to you I did. Not to mention the fact I've played Settlers with Alex and Winn used to work for you. Then Supergirl's Aunt Astra showing up to look after me when you had to go  _ 'make something right' _ ?"

Cat stared at her son, her heart racing. Part of her had been fighting over how to tell him about her own feelings towards Kara, the rest utterly terrified about him eventually knowing the truth of who she really was and what that would mean for him and his wellbeing. 

"Mom…" Carter reached over, seeing her go pale and her hands start to shake. He threaded his fingers into hers and squeezed tightly. "Mom just breathe. I-I'm sorry, I wouldn't have said anything but you've been so down and with the move I-"

"It's okay, Carter, I'm okay." Cat breathed, anchoring herself to her son like a lifeline as the panic threatening to choke her silent started to ease. "It's just a lot to process."

"That's okay." Carter said gently, squeezing Cat's hand. "I just, I won't say anything, I just wanted you to know, to be sure."

"Sure?"

Carter nodded. "That you were doing all this for you, and the right reasons, and that I'm really okay with you and Kara. Don't use me as a reason, I think you've kept that part of yourself hidden because of me for long enough."

Cat couldn't help the sob of a laugh that bubbled up from her throat, the band around her chest weakening as she let it out. "When did you get so smart?"

"Always have been, I'm your son after all."

Cat closed her eyes and shook her head, feeling the bed pitch before Carter wrapped her up in a firm hug. "I love you, and I think you might be in love with Kara, and she should really know that."

  
  



	29. Chapter 29

Alex lingered across from Kara, stifling a yawn as Kara looked up at CatCo from where they stood just outside the main entrance. 

"You know this feels like dropping you off for school." 

Kara felt the tension in her chest tighten, what little Astra had relayed was enough to fill her dreams for another week and then some. When honestly she hadn't said anything Kara didn't already know or hadn't already been told by Cat before now. Just not quite with the kind of filter Kara had in place now. 

"You didn't have to walk with me,"

"I know, I'm just saying. Besides I needed to stretch my legs. Astra's penchant for flying me in isn't doing me any favors."

Kara rounded her gaze back to her sister with a slightly raised eyebrow. "Every morning?"

Alex flushed a little before rubbing at the back of her neck. "Not every morning." 

Kara made a face before Alex nudged her. "Listen, I'm an easy out. You know people are going to be a little crazy in there with all of you coming back to work."

"I know. At least it's Friday. It'll be over quickly and give everyone some room to breathe."

"One hopes."

"Kara!" 

The sisters turned at the shout, Alex looking confused a second while Kara offered a small smile to Marin who rushed over with an order from Noonan's in her arms. 

"Hey Marin, need a hand?"

Marin gave a nod, turning one of the cup holders over to Kara's open hands. "Thanks. One of those is yours. The rest are for the others, they're already up in Helen's office." 

"Oh, are we meeting there or?"

"Sortof? We have to sign a few more papers and get cleared by HR then it's on to whatever Cat has planned, if anything."

"And that's my cue. Kara, have a  _ wonderful _ day. Marin, good to see you in better surroundings."

"Thanks Alex… love you too," Kara offered sarcastically as Alex grinned and waved, filtering into the early morning crowd. 

"She doesn't seem anything like an FBI agent."

"Special division." Kara supplied, readjusting her bag before nodding towards the doors. "Ready?" 

With a nod the two made their way inside, easily getting into an elevator with hardly any trouble but plenty of glances and murmurs. 

A short ride later they were on the floor that housed HR and Legal, where the rest of the group was waiting. Without prompt the two women were hugged or patted about as they came near before Marin passed out coffee and breakfast for their little survivors group. 

"I hope you brought enough for everyone," Cat's voice silenced their idle chatter before Marin smiled and gave Kara a slight nudge. 

"She's got your order."

' _Of course she did_ ', Cat thought, whether it was Marin or Kara who had acquired it was anyone's guess. 

Kara swallowed thickly, her veins blazing fire that coiled around her body like a snake the instant she laid eyes on Cat. Despite looking fantastic wearing that same zippered dress from over a month ago, she could see the lines of worry and borderline exhaustion that clung to Cat like a needy child. 

The rest of the group moved aside casually, trying not to watch the pair too obviously as Cat looked Kara over. It took another beat or four before Kara actually moved, closing the space between them and offering Cat her designated cup. 

"I miss this," Cat whispered just loud enough for Kara to hear. Nearly causing the woman to drop the thing before Cat's hand circled around the cup to prevent the spill. 

"I miss you." 

Cat's eyes flared momentarily with the breathless comment, her gaze raking over Kara's features as they turned a new shade of red. 

"I mean… good morning Miss-"

"Cat, I think it's been established that Miss Grant doesn't exactly carry all that well anymore with all of you." 

The others passed glances between one another at the comment before Kara stepped aside for Cat to have the way forward. As Cat stepped closer she drew a breath to offer something more to Kara.

"Oh thank God," Helen said loudly as Hunter offered her a cup the moment she stepped out of her office. Already poised to take a sip. "What? You're all here and you brought the nectar of the gods."

Cat bit back her smirk, her words falling away as Kara shifted beside her, drawing closer. 

"So what all do we have to sign? I thought that was already taken care of after we first got back." Orin questioned, turning all eyes on Helen. 

"Adjustments and continued employment jargon. Legal drafted it all up to ensure you're all taken care of when you return in full capacity on Monday. Shouldn't take very long, I promise."

Cat drew in a slow breath, shifting her weight to one hip, closest to Kara. Her nerves crackle with energy and while everyone is distracted with Helen's expositions she stretched her fingers back, half hidden by the closeness of Kara's body and her own. 

Kara bit down on her bottom lip as the barest touch of Cat's hand brushed her skin. Her fingers responded like magnets, slipping between Cat's own and feathering against the back of her hand. 

Cat's attention remained ahead of them, lingering on the group as they asked more questions of Helen. Her fingers curled up to gently squeeze Kara's as goosebumps rose over her neck with the sudden rush of warm air just off her shoulder. 

"Please don't be upset with me, I know I've been awful." Cat whispered behind a sip of her coffee. 

"I want to be," Kara answered honestly on a whisper as Cat squeezed her hand firmer, "but I can't, not when I know you never wear the same thing twice in a year."

Cat smiled to herself, so Kara had noticed. She rubbed her thumb across Kara's knuckles, as she lifted her cup for another faux sip of coffee. "I thought it was a good start towards an apology."

Kara breathed over her neck again, making Cat shiver before her hand slowly slipped free as the conversations ahead of them began to shift. 

"Cat, you're with me, the rest of you can follow each one of my team to an office in case you need to discuss anything in private."

Kara cleared her throat, carefully weaving around Cat with a small nudge as she made her way into Helen's office. 

***

A little while later the group stood huddled together in an elevator and not just any elevator,  _ Cat's private _ elevator.

Kara had been in it numerous times before, a rare few of her own doing, others by invitation on Cat's part and certainly not while the other woman was in it. Yet here she was, trying not to breathe as she stood behind Cat while the others crowded together around them. 

As always Cat was at the front, and Kara swore the other woman's nose was a whisper away from the doors, considering they could have taken the other elevators and met Cat there but she had been insistent. Which could only mean one thing. 

The parade. 

It was something Cat did nearly every time she went somewhere for more than a day. Upon her return she would come out of the elevator to a wall of employees on either side. Cat swore it was just a means to catch up with whatever she had missed as quickly as possible but Kara had other ideas about that. 

Only this time, Cat had already been back, this wasn't for her, it was for the rest of them. No sooner did the reality of that settle in, the elevator announced their stop. The gears and wheels of the door mechanism sounded a split second before the steel parted and revealed them to the top floor. 

Cat stepped out first, followed by the fan of her employees. Applause and cheers had already begun as everyone else on the floor stood to welcome them all back. 

A huge banner was strung across the tv array, along with what looked like some kind of banquet table laid out with all sorts of goodies that Cat would otherwise never have in the office. 

To say they were all shocked was an understatement. People called them by name, gave whistles and threw comments about welcoming them back among others. 

Cat shifted to the side, offering her own muted applause as the group edged forward, shaking a hand or two, grins plastered on flush faces as they each tried to wrap their heads around what dimension they had portaled into with the elevator ride. 

Kara looked over at Cat, her body warming at the smile that greeted her before James wrapped her up in an unexpected hug. 

"Good to have you back," he said as she hugged him back only to find the space Cat had been suddenly empty. 

"Uh, yeah well, not much could keep me away you know."

"Maybe next time don't blow out your powers and we could get you back full time," he said under his breath before Kara shoved him gently. 

"Hey!" Lucy shouted, wrapping Kara up, even if she had seen her at the DEO it had been through the observation window and not in person. 

"I heard you held down the fort a bit there Luce, Alex says thanks by the way."

"Yeah, you can tell her I'll trade her place for the desert any day." 

Kara smirked before the gentle ringing of a glass brought the room to a quiet hum as Cat stood near the table across the way. 

"Now, I know we all have work to do." There was a slight groan with that. "But because everyone here got the lead out we're actually ahead of deadline. Now, if anyone here repeats this, I will adamantly deny it, however with the return of such valued employees and friends, you can all consider this a paid in house day."

A round of gasps and a few cheers went up with that before Cat held her hands up. "Don't all file out at once now, I expect some things to get done, at least use the time to get caught up, lunch is on me and just for today so is the champagne. With that said, chopchop everybody."

Another round of cheers and applause went out as Cat downed a small half of champagne before stepping aside to allow the others to get their fill. Kara excused herself from Lucy and James, turning towards where Cat was retreating to her office. 

"Danvers!"

Snappers voice caught her by surprise and with an inner curse to herself as Cat closed her office door Kara put on a smile and slowly turned. 

Snapper's unamused expression quirked as he closed the distance between them, thumping her in the chest with the latest copy of the Tribune. Kara flailed as she caught it before it completely unfurled, looking from it to him and back. 

"Sales are up, thought you'd want that framed on your wall or something."

Kara frowned, glancing over the lead article before her name glared up at her after the fold. 

"Had already planned to run it the week you went on that little excursion with the others." 

Kara skimmed her article, finding only the barest touch of Snapper's editing before looking back up at him. 

"Just glad you're still around to keep'm coming, kid."

Kara swallowed hard, looking back at the article as Snapper cleared his throat. When she looked back up he appeared to be bracing for some kind of impact only to raise an eyebrow when she stuck her hand out to him abruptly. He eyed her for a minute before taking it, internally marveling at the strength of her handshake. 

"I won't let you down, boss."

Snapper's mouth quirked again before he gave a nod. "See that you don't."

Kara folded the paper into herself as Snappers made himself scarce, her attention shifting back towards Cat's office where she saw her pacing about with her cell phone to her ear. 

Kara let out a small sigh, of course Cat would be hard at work while the rest of them had an in work field day. She felt someone just behind her and gave a small turn before Lucy offered her a glass of champagne. 

"Don't put your hand in the lion's cage unless you expect to get bit Kara."

Kara frowned, glancing back to Cat as she paced and gestured in the air, completely oblivious to the world outside her office. 

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You've waited this long, another few hours won't kill you."

Kara rose a high brow, eyeing Lucy for a minute. 

"You forget there's cameras everywhere at the DEO or something Kar?"

With that Kara's face turned three shades of red while Lucy chuckled. 

"I really should thank you for that, I won a hundred dollars off that feed."

"Lucy you can't say-"

"Don't worry your head about that, blame Winn, he's the one who scrubbed it… and paid up. As the assistant director I had to authorize it since Alex couldn't being your sister and all." 

Kara swore under her breath before downing her glass in one shot. Maybe she should call Alex, feign an emergency. He'll maybe if she times it right and stepped off the roof Astra would catch her and spirit her back to the DEO, assuming her powers didn't kick back in full force. 

Despite the lax in the surrounding environment thanks to Cat in regards to their little group's return, it was going to be a ridiculously long day. 


	30. Chapter 30

As the day wound down Kara suddenly found herself dreading it's end. It was Friday after all, which most likely meant another two days before she would see Cat again. Assuming of course Kara didn't get bold or something and just show up at Cat's penthouse. 

Then again Carter was most likely there and that would be awkward to explain. She could invite Cat over, but again if Carter were home, despite his age and the capability to look after himself, Cat would probably still forego the invitation. 

As it was, Kara had hardly seen Cat beyond the pacing in her office. Shortly after Lucy had convinced Kara to mingle and just enjoy the moment with the rest of CatCo, their CEO had ventured to another floor.

By the time she made another appearance it was practically four in the afternoon. A good half of the people there had left around three, taking as much of an opportunity for the added time away from CatCo while they could afford it. Cat's generosity on the matter notwithstanding. 

Kara let out a small sigh, grabbing for her bag and stuffing various forgotten articles and assignments she wanted to busy herself with in order to be fresh on Monday and provide more for Snapper if need be. She smirked as she unfolded the latest issue, eyes running over her name again before she caught movement out of the corner of her eye. 

With a small push and a look up Kara stood seeing everyone but Helen and Cat from their camping group lingering at the mouth of the reporters den. 

"Uhm...hi, you know you all can come in here right?"

"Last time any of us tried Snapper had a small fit." Orin stated, eyeing Snapper from across the way. 

Kara rose a brow, glancing back towards Snapper's office where he still remained, giving a small shrug before making her way out into the commonspace. 

"What's up?"

"We uh, we were thinking-" Leon started before Hunter nudged forward.

"We'd all meet up for dinner tonight." 

"As a kind of celebratory reminiscing thing." Pip continued as Kara's eyes darted about the group. 

"I saw the invite, I just hadn't replied to it yet." Kara said, it wasn't a lie, but her actual attendance of it was. She had honestly just wanted to go home, sleep off the weekend and try not to think about calling or texting Cat until the other woman was ready.

"We noticed, I just talked to Helen she's going to come" Marin offered before Pip edged forward. 

"We were kind of hoping you could convince Cat. It just wouldn't feel right y'know if she didn't come."

Hunter nodded. "She's half the reason some of us are even here."

"Did you ask her assistants?"

"Earlier but they never got back to us, and you're still the only one who has a pass when it comes to just walking into her office versus the rest of us." Orin clarified. 

"At least while during office hours." Leon interjected as Marin nudged him gently. 

Kara smirked before looking at the four of them, adjusting her bag at her shoulder. "Okay… I'll ask but I can't promise anything."

"We know, it just, it would mean a lot and while we'd all ask together we don't want to guilt her or overwhelm her, y'know?" Marin said, "I mean she was back to work the next Monday…"

Kara frowned with that, having the five of them, plus her, suddenly bombard Cat after everything might indeed be too much. 

"Yeah sure, I'll ask."

"Oh, and we had to change the venue.  _ Someone,  _ forgot to make a reservation at  _ Cibo Matto _ earlier and they're booked solid for tonight, so we made a new one at  _ Gilded _ ." Hunter corrected, trying not to wince at the squeeze of Marin's hand around their wrist unseen. 

Kara's eyebrows shot up at that, that place was inside the Seraphim Hotel, and it wasn't exactly known to be cheap either. 

"Wow,"

"Helen said she'd help and it might even be considered a work thing but we also wanted some place reserved and private with Cat there and all. There's been enough prying eyes on all of us lately but especially her."

Kara drew in a deep breath with that, Pip was right, out of all of them Cat had done as promised and taken the brunt of their return in stride. Leaving the rest of them to enjoy the mandatory recovery time CatCo had afforded them to actually focus on that. 

"Still at around six yeah?" Kara asked, watching the collective nod between the other four. 

"Okay, well, I'll see what I can do." 

"Thanks Kara, we'll see you later tonight yeah?"

Kara nodded watching them a minute as they started to disperse before looking towards Cat's office. She pulled her bag up a little higher, hanging onto the strap as she stepped that way and gently knocked on the glass door. 

Cat looked up abruptly from whatever she was working on, one finger hooking around her glasses as she drew them off her face and nodded for Kara to come in. 

Kara edged inside, unsure why she felt like she was being intrusive when she used to walk in unbidden nearly a hundred times in a day before now. 

"Don't mean to interrupt-"

"It's not unwelcomed." Cat allowed, watching Kara nearly trip in her way around the coffee table. She sat her glasses down, studying Kara carefully as she made her way over, eyes rising the nearer the other woman got. 

Kara lingered in what felt like the first quiet moment between them in forever and a day. Eyes glancing off various things along Cat's desk without thought before she trailed her eyes along Cats arm and upward. Cat merely tipped her head after a moment, allowing the observation before slowly sitting back into her chair. 

Kara felt as sudden irrational thought seize her mind, the brazen reveal of her subconscious forcing her throat to flush as Cat crossed one leg over the other almost as if she had read Kara's mind and was subtly telling her not here or now. 

Kara cleared her throat and adjusted her glasses, the real reason she was here knocking her brain around like a sledgehammer. 

"Checked your calendar lately?"

Cat smirked, folding her hands in her lap easily as she leaned into the chair and allowed her body to relax. Eyes taking in Kara's figure and taking note that despite the layers she seemed to have filled out a bit here and there. There was more definition to certain parts of the woman than Cat could remember and she idly wondered if it had genuinely been that long or if Kara had just been keeping herself occupied in other ways beyond being Supergirl. 

That was still a weight Cat could see dragging Kara down to earth. Which meant National City was still without it's heroine in her full regalia. 

"That's what my assistants are for apparently." 

Kara smiled faintly, adjusting her bag again. "You were invited to dinner tonight." 

Cat rose a single eyebrow but otherwise remained silent. 

"The rest of the group sent it out as a kind of last get together before next week. They'd really like you to come, even if it's just for a little bit."

"What about you? All I've heard so far is about the rest of them."

Kara held her breath for a second, questioning if she should answer honestly. In truth she wanted to ask Cat out on her own, just the two of them and would easily, albeit with a slight underlying guilt, forego the other meetup in favor of that possibility. 

"I'd … really like it if you came." 

Cat shifted in her seat, leaning her head back against the cushion as she eyed Kara. Her mouth quirked at the particular phrasing Kara had used before she reached for her phone and scrolled over the screen for a second. 

"What time?"

"Sixish." Kara said with a touch of hesitance, she knew Cat could have the perfect excuse with Carter or even work for that matter after the lax day the rest of them had. 

"Where?"

"Gilded? It's inside-"

"The Seraphim." Cat looked up from her phone then, her expression similar to Kara's when she had first heard the venue choice. "I'm aware."

Kara waited for Cat to continue even as her focus turned back to her phone until Kara heard the thing buzz. Cat's expression softened all on its own, to the point that Kara realized the other woman wasn't even aware of it. 

"If you have any intention of changing into something more comfortable for this evening, you have a very limited window," Cat offered turning her eyes back to Kara after setting her phone face down on her desk. 

Kara smiled genuinely, the grip on her bag tightening with anticipation as she started to back up a bit. Any other day she could just fly home, now she still had a walk ahead of her unless she called for Astra but that would be a whole other situation to deal with that would undoubtedly make her late. 

"Hopefully, I'll see you later then."

Cat watched Kara weave around the furniture in her office with a new bounce in her step before she banged loudly into the door. 

"Hopefully you will."

Kara turned and made her way out, nearly power walking to the elevator as she scrambled for her phone the instant the doors closed. 

" _ Danvers _ ."

"Alex, how soon can you meet me at my apartment?"

" _ Uhm, depends? Are you in trouble?" _

"Maybe? I dunno, I just know I have nothing to wear but I need to be ready in like an hour."

  
  



	31. Chapter 31

Leon glanced around, giving a small wave from the table he had reserved as the others slowly navigated their way over. 

"I forgot how busy this place can get." Marin said, taking a seat along with the others. 

"Do you think Cat's gonna show?"

Hunter glanced over at Pip with the question giving him a knowing look. "Kara did the asking." 

Orin shook his head, leaning back in his seat. "Not a guarantee."

"One reason I could see Cat not coming would be her son, but he's like sixteen I'm sure he can manage himself."

Leon made a noise, quieting the table as he gestured across the room. 

Helen made her way over, stopping a waiter before pointing to the group a few tables up before passing over what looked like cash. 

A few seconds after she joined the table and settled into her chair, while the others looked on expectantly. 

"So we've agreed not to answer our phones right?"

***

Kara leaned into the bar on her elbows, glancing at the mirror behind the bottles to survey the room unseen as she waited. She knew she wasn't early but she at least expected one or two of their little group to be lingering about. She had been told their table was ready and that she was the first to arrive and had opted to wait at the bar until someone else arrived. 

_ Gilded _ was a known location, a higher end tourist stop if for no other reason than the architecture and it certainly lived up to its name. 

With a careful determination Cat stepped into  _ Gilded,  _ immediately greeted by the hostess before relaying why she was here. 

"The rest of your party has arrived, if you'd like I can show you to your table?"

Cat glanced around, her gaze stopping on a particular attribute of Kara's where she leaned against the bar. Honestly she shouldn't be able to recognize the woman by that alone, and in all honesty it wasn't just that but still. 

"That's alright, I see one of them at the bar."

The hostess nodded, keeping her confusion at Cat's statement to herself. "Enjoy your evening."

Cat offered a faint smile of appreciation before making her way across the inner lounge area towards Kara. 

Kara had just gotten her hands around her drink, and the one she ordered for Cat when the woman's reflection in the mirror behind the bar caught her attention. Her chest felt flush at the look she saw pass over Cat's features as she took in Kara's figure from behind unobscured. 

The casual sway of Cat's hips carried her across the floor in similar fashion to her namesake and Kara couldn't help but be mesmerized as she wove through the space towards her. Gone were the extravagant trappings that she had on at CatCo earlier. Replaced by a simple black dress, accented by a touch of gold in the form of a simple necklace and a thin watch. 

As Kara's eyes tracked up Cat caught her in the mirror, her smile genuine as it rose a few seconds before Cat stepped into proper view beside her. 

"You clean up nice." Cat said with a quiet thank you as Kara wordlessly passed her a martini. 

"You look amazing." That honestly hadn't been the first thing Kara wanted to say but her mouth overrode her brain and the flush of her cheeks let Cat know it. 

Cat hummed to herself, taking a sip of her drink as Kara floundered for a second. 

"I mean, I'm glad you made it. The table's in the back and I didn't want to just sit alone." 

Cat rose a high brow at that, recalling the hostesses statement that everyone for their table was here. 

"Shall we?" 

"Lead the way." 

Kara swallowed hard, wanting nothing more than to down her drink in one go before turning from the bar and making her way back through the restaurant with Cat in tow.

Cat watched her carefully, from the sheer material that reminded Cat of Kara's suit that floated around Kara's torso, teasing one with her physique with the solid camisole that clung to her like a second skin beneath, to the impossibly tight black jeans that somehow were supposed to be more comfortable than what Kara had been wearing earlier. 

Their table was indeed in the back, farthest from anyone who might recognize them. A gilded lattice wall partially obscuring the view if someone passed by. Kara eased into the rounded booth, moving around to the opposite side as Cat settled across from her. 

Within seconds a waiter appeared, taking note of their drinks before offering out menus to the both of them. 

"Ladies, my name is Aaron and I'll be your waiter tonight. I see the bar has taken care of your drink orders. The chef special is the blacked salmon and our featured appetizer is the langostino stuffed mushrooms with a sherry cream sauce."

"Oh, uhm, we're waiting for the rest of our group." Kara offered politely.

The waiter anxiously glanced between the two women. "My apologies, I was informed it would be just the two of you."

Cat glanced over her menu at the man before looking side long at Kara. The genuine confusing settling into her features told her everything she needed to know. 

"Aaron, could you give us a few minutes to clear this up?"

"Absolutely, let me know if I can help in any way. I'll be just over there." He gestured across the way near one of the point of sale booths the wait staff used before stepping away. 

"I know I didn't get the place wrong, Marin specifically said-"

"I'll bet she did." Cat said under her breath, holding a hand up to silence Kara as she used the other to slide open her phone and hit a number on speedial. Kara looked on, dragging her own phone out to text Marin until Cat's hand urged her phone down onto the table. 

Cat lingered in the silence as Helen's voicemail echoed in her ear. She waited for the obligatory beep before speaking. "Helen, I would hate to imagine what your response would be if this were a work emergency. I'll give you the benefit of it being Friday and expect to meet with you on Monday first thing."

***

The others glanced at Helen dumbfounded after the woman had shown them that Cat was calling before she casually silenced the phone and set it back in her purse. 

"What if she calls the rest of us?" Pip questioned while Helen ordered another drink and waved him off. 

"She won't."

"How do you know?" Marin followed, already checking her phone and wondering if she should just turn it off. 

"Culpability, and the fact I know Cat. By not answering she's confirmed that the rest of us are not joining her."

Hunter puffed out their cheeks with an exhale suddenly unsure of this was the best idea and what it would mean for all of them on Monday. 

"So it worked?" Leon asked, looking to the others. 

"Only if she stays," Orin said, "and doesn't think it's something Kara purposefully set up."

Pip downed another shot, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "I don't want to get Kara in trouble but I don't think I can watch those two dance around each other like they do anymore either."

"That's why we did all this." Marin said, "They seemed so…"

"What?" Helen questioned.

"I dunno, in sync when we were up north, like they used to be before Kara was promoted."

"Almost like they were back together again." Leon stated to a round of nods from the others. 

"Together again?" Helen asked as all eyes turned on her. "You're saying they were together before?"

"Weren't they?" Hunter started, "I mean we all heard the rumors after Kara had been hired. She was a nobody by comparison to the other people that applied and then she ends up being this great equalizer."

"Ok, I have to admit I thought it was a power grab thing when I first heard it," Orin admitted. "But then there was that time when her other son showed up because of Kara and then Cat started being more-"

"That's right Kara did bring him back, and that thing with the board," Pip added.

"Yeah, Cat was different, more open I guess. She started coming by our department more, asking questions and wanting real feedback not just lording over us like other CEO's y'know." Hunter said looking around the table. 

Helen looked at the group, realizing that statement seemed to hold true for all of them. Which would also have accounted for Cat's choices regarding them and their coming along on the retreat. 

"Yeah, then Kara got promoted." Leon said with a sour note. 

"And that was it. Cat got more withdrawn again, I mean James came around in her stead but it wasn't the same." Marin stated as the others nodded. 

"Then the string of assistants that barely lasted a day." Orin said.

"Kara out on assignments and barely in the office except for when Cat fired someone else." Marin added. 

"Right?" Pip said. "They'd have this little post fire meeting that always seemed to end up with one of them leaving the building for the rest of the day after; namely Kara."

Helen's brow furrowed as she leaned forward looking at the rest of the group. "You're telling me, Cat Grant,  _ our boss _ , was in a relationship for at least a year with her assistant until they broke up and then Cat promoted her?" 

The group looked between themselves a minute, just as food was brought to the table before Marin answered. 

"I mean it certainly reads that way, don't get me wrong Cat is attractive, but I've never looked at my boss the way Kara looked at her half the time."

"Or vice versa," Hunter added, forking a bite of food. 

Helen sat back in her seat with a breath of a laugh, incredulity plastered across her features. "They never dated, I mean that with absolution. Cat and Kara have never … I mean okay maybe not never that I know of, but what I do know, Cat has yet to change uh… clauses in her contract agreements, and none of you heard me say that."

The group looked up at Helen as if she had two heads. 

"No, I'm serious, they haven't and even as recently as today, Cat hasn't adjusted those things I didn't mention."

"So why the hell did you agree to help when we told you about all this!?" Marin asked as the others started to pale.

"Cause I thought you were aiming for Kara pushing Cat to stay at CatCo not date her."

***

Kara waited for another minute as Cat out away her phone before signaling their waiter. As promised, Aaron was at their table in a matter of seconds. 

"Could you go ahead with the langostino to start, and a couple of waters please? We're still going to need a few minutes before ordering."

"Absolutely. I'll put that in right away."

As Aaron hurried off Kara turned her gaze back to Cat. 

"We don't have to stay if-"

"Are you hungry?" Cat asked looking over the menu, gravitating towards an item or two, as if completely oblivious to the situation that was unfolding. 

"Starving, but-"

Cat cut her eyes up and Kara felt her chest cave with the urge to pull the menu down and kiss the other woman where she sat. 

"Then what are you waiting for?" 

Kara was suddenly frozen to the spot, wondering for a split second if Cat couldn't read her mind with the tone she carried.

"Unless, you'd rather-"

"No." 

Cat hid her smirk with Kara's abrupt answer. 

"Well then, we're here, I skipped lunch, you're starving and this place is one I haven't tried yet. So find something."

Kara kicked her lips, opening her menu and scanning its contents before her eyes leveled on the prices as her stomach dropped out. 

"And don't look at how much everything is." Cat allowed, her eyes back on her own menu. "Own where you are Kara and no one will ever be the wiser."

  
  
  
  



	32. Chapter 32

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been a bit, my brain went on a creative hiatus

Kara turned her water over in her grasp, waiting for Cat to return from the bathroom. Their first course had been, eventful to say the least. What had started out as awkward and tense relaxed into an amused ridiculousness quietly shared between the two women in regards to what their little group had attempted. 

While Kara couldn't guess at the full intention the others had, she herself had allowed the purposeful mishap to bolster her own towards viewing this as a date, or at least what she hoped was a date. It wasn't one if Cat didn't have similar intentions and Kara didn't want to presume. 

Of course that would also mean her co-workers had intended it to be a date. Granted they weren't the standard office fare but the idea itself teetered on scandalous and frankly a little embarrassing. Kara had thought she and Cat were careful, that their closeness back at the tree houses was wrought from an intense, near-death kind of a thing. Just as it had seemed to be between all of them. 

Then again, only she and Cat were at Gilded. The rest weren't even hiding in a corner watching or lingering about somewhere else on the hotel's ground floor. Kara had made sure to check while Cat was preoccupied with a phone call that had come mid appetizer. 

Kara sat back with a sigh before taking a sip of her water. 

"That usually works," Cat stated from over her shoulder before slipping around the table and into the booth across from Kara once more. 

Kara was grateful she had already swallowed by the time the other woman returned, knowing she probably would have choked otherwise. "What?"

Cat shifted in her seat, getting comfortable again as she looked at Kara. "One of two things, either the food comes or the other person skips out."

Kara tipped her head curiously, wondering who in their wrong mind would dip out on Cat in a place like this. "Which one were you hoping for?"

Cat cut her eyes up, studying Kara carefully before reaching for her martini, only to think better of it as her fingers wrapped around her water glass instead.

"The food." 

Kara flexed her jaw and moved her hands from around her glass into her lap instead so Cat wouldn't see them fidget. Something was different here, Cat was far too relaxed and apparently far more at ease with the whole situation than Kara had given her credit for. 

"You... we don't- I mean, this can just be dinner." 

Cat's mouth quirked as she watched Kara, thankful for the cooling sip of water as it worked the dryness from her throat. She knew exactly what that little group was up to, and how dangerous a position it could put both her and Kara in. 

"As opposed to?"

Kara kicked her lips nervously, her lungs filling with a short draw of oxygen just as Aaron came around the corner with their food. 

"Ladies…" he set the plates down accordingly but Cat refused to look away from Kara even as the woman thanked their waiter and stated they didn't need anything more. 

Cat was still looking at her, unmoving, waiting patiently for the answer still brimming on Kara's tongue. 

"Would you want this to be-"

"What Kara?"

The woman's voice was almost melodic and Kara wondered if what little alcohol was in her own drink from before wasn't hitting her way too hard. 

"Is this a date? I mean are we going to let it be or is it-"

Cat sat forward, silencing Kara with a stammer. "Is this what you would want if you were on a date with me?"

Kara felt her insides quake with the question and the unwavering level of Cat's gaze on her. Already her head was shaking back and forth with the best of movements before her mouth caught up. 

"Not, really? I mean, I know a place like this would seem sort of commonplace with that reputation of yours."

Cat's eyebrow lifted at that. "But?"

"It's not you, not really. I'd rather be bringing a bottle of cheap wine that I had no idea if it was even good or not to your front door after you offered to make dinner instead," Kara said with some unknown reserve of bravery. 

Cat hummed with a ghost of a smile before gradually working her way around the booth until she was next to Kara. The other woman's gaze having tracked her along the half circle whole her breath caught somewhere in her throat. 

"What makes you think, after working all day, that I would spend what little time I had before your arrival, slaving over a hot stove?"

Kara glanced down at the barest touch of Cat's fingers brushing across her own as she leaned closer, blood rushing to her cheeks before looking back up at Cat. "Educated guess…" 

Kara studied Cat carefully, leaning forward before curling her fingers away and turning her head. Noting that Cat barely moved, letting Kara take whatever lead was there to be had. "I… really want to kiss you right now." 

"I know." Cat said softly, watching Kara like a hawk. She stayed still and kept her breathing even for fear of startling the other woman, despite how much she just wanted to grab for her and pull her into a kiss.

"Not here… if this is, a first real date, I…"

"What Kara? Whatever it is-"

"I don't want to share that with anyone."

Cat straightened back slightly with Kara's statement, eyes darting across the other woman's features for more insight. 

"I know, it's not the first… of many things, but, it's also not because of some scenario we might not make it out of." 

Cat tipped her head curiously as she watched Kara process her words before speaking again. 

"It's a willing choice, one that I don't want to make on a whim, no matter how right it feels. It's a first, genuine, step towards something else when it comes to you and me and what we are or could be but I don't want some rushed what if preview. I can take what little we have had and live with that for ions even if nothing else happened."

"What if I can't?" 

It was Kara's turn to be taken aback, searching over Cat's features with the blatant honesty of her statement. 

"What if all those little possibilities we shared back at the cabin make up a greater whole that I want to explore?"

"Ladies how is everything?"

Kara looked over at Aaron as he interrupted while Cat continued to look at Kara. 

"We're going to need some boxes and the check please." 

Aaron looked at the untouched plates and then back to both women before Cat's eyes leveled in him. "Dinner's already taken care of so… I uh I'll be right back with these." 

He reached over, taking their plates before zipping around a corner again as Kara looked back to Cat. 

"Come home with me?" 

Cat drew in a slow, determined breath, noting the fact their dinner had been pre-paid as her gaze drifted across Kara's features before she moved back and out of the booth. 

Kara was right behind her, stepping out just as Aaron came rushing back with a paper bag filled with their uneaten dinner. 

Cat pressed a small fold of bills into his hand thereafter before she and Kara made their way across the hotel lobby towards the waiting line of cars. 

Attentive as ever, Austin was up from the car, relieving Kara of their food before holding the door to Cat's car open. Kara slipped inside as Cat spoke quietly to her driver before sliding in beside the other woman. 

After a few moments they pulled away, and instead if heading right, away from downtown and towards Kara's apartment they continued onward towards the heart of the city. 

It took Kara a minute, give that her internal navigation of the city was typically from a hundred feet up give or take. 

"This isn't the way to-"

"I know," Cat said gently, ignoring the scenery in favor of the woman beside her. 

"Oh…" Kara said with a touch of melancholy, they were headed to Cat's penthouse, more likely than not to drop her off before Kara was driven home, alone. 

The ride was silent after that, save for the quiet nuances of the sedan as it made its way through National City towards Cat's home within it. 

When the car finally stopped, Austin remained where he was, as Cat moved to get out while Kara remained, trying not to let whatever choice Cat had made affect her. 

The doorman greeted Cat as usual, door already propped for her to pass through it as she lingered beside the car. 

"Well?"

Kara blinked, her attention turning from the opposite window to where Cat stood patiently along the curb. 

"Aren't you coming?" 

"But I thought…"

"This was your ideal spot for a date wasn't it?" 

Kara swallowed hard, her emotions doing a one-eighty as she slid towards Cat before catching herself. 

"What about Carter?"

Cat smiled softly, her heart seizing in her chest with the question. 

"He's at a party and won't be back until Sunday." Of course, Cat kept the fact it was a going away party to herself. That could come later. 

Kara stepped out of the car as Cat shut the door behind her. "What about the food?"

"Austin can take it home to his wife, I have something else in mind." 

Kara felt her chest flutter with Cat implied statement before her hand went almost numb as Cat's fingers laced with her own and pulled her along.


	33. Chapter 33

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's been 84 years but it's been crazy here...hopefully this makes up for it.... Please send any and all threats of pillow lobbing towards my head to the comments boxes ;)

Kara eased into the expanse of Cat's penthouse, she had expected… well honestly she didn't know what she expected. A part of her always figured the vast majority of Cat's place to be like an extension of CatCo. Glass, steel and reinforced concrete; form as function, an embrace of minimalism; and a rejection of the ornamental beyond carefully chosen signature pieces. Like the pink panther at work. 

Instead she was greeted with color and artistry, there was a minimalist restraint to be had and there was indeed function in the form of the home Cat led her through but it was… normal. 

Well as normal as one could be with a near room size _Bonheur_ along the wall of the great room and a _De Lempicka_ cool-ly gazing at the pair from the hall they wove through as Cat guided her to the kitchen. 

Knowing Cat, they were quite possibly original works but Kara tried not to dwell on the idea as the expanse of the kitchen was opened up to her. Kara eased forward slowly towards the island complete with its multifunctional range and adjacent sink. She never knew someone to have two sinks in their kitchen, until now. 

"You could film a whole show in here." Kara commented as Cat opened up the fridge that blended seamlessly with the surrounding cabinetry before plucking out a small glass pan. 

"Where do you think Martha got the idea?" Cat mused as she set an over before sliding the dish in before wiping her hands on a hanging towel nearby. "I'm assuming you are still hungry, yes?"

Kara turned with the question, rubbing at the back of her neck. "I… can always eat." 

Cat nodded, stepping out of her heels and dropping a good three inches without falter. "There's wine over there, other options are in the fridge." 

"Oh... would you, do you want-"

"Water is fine. I hope you don't mind, I've been in this all day and I'd really like to change."

"Benefits of being hom-er here I guess uhm... I'll just watch the oven?"

Cat smirked, shoes hooked around her fingers as she took Kara in before stepping closer. The sudden difference in their height did things to Kara's insides and they must've shown in the flush of her neck as Cat's eyes darted there before lifting back up again. 

Kara swallowed thickly, tension pulling at her insides as Cat pushed up on the balls of her feet before placing the barest of kisses against the corner of Kara's mouth. 

"I'll be right back." 

"Oh...okay…" 

Kara watched as Cat moved away into the depths of her penthouse. Paying particular attention to the added sway of her hips before shaking herself out of it. 

Trembling fingers closed around the edge of the fridge latch, prying open the door as she grabbed for a couple bottles of water. She set Cat's on the counter before downing her own in a few swallows only to frantically look around for some kind of bin to put the empty plastic bottle into. 

"Breathe Kara, damn…" she chided herself, adjusting her shirt before wiping her hands on her pants. 

The shrill chirp of the oven pulled her attention as she whirled on the appliance and grabbed the nearest pot holders. Her powers might be in flux and she was probably safe to grab the glass dish with her bare hands but she wasn't leaving anything to chance. 

She set the pan carefully on the island range, easing the oven shut before turning it off. The rich, comforting scent of lasagna wafting up to meet her as she leaned in for a better noseful as Cat came back around the corner. 

Cat smirked at the sight, ignoring the slight pang in her chest of all the time wasted where she could have been witness to Kara practically foodgasming in her kitchen well before now. Then again had Cat acted on any of her prior impulses, this level of domesticity probably wouldn't have factored into anything. 

Cat eased into the kitchen on bare feet, gone was the skirt and in its place was a form fitting set of cotton pants that hugged every curve. Kara set herself back on solid ground as Cat worked around behind her and pulled two plates down. 

Of all the outfits Kara had been witness to, _this_ was the sexiest thing she could ever recall seeing the woman wear. The worn, oversized sweatshirt, washed beyond recognition that hung from one shoulder; giving Kara a glimpse of those impossible collarbones and the round of a bare shoulder. The sharp contrast of makeup was gone, softened and smoothed away as was the undoubtedly thousands of dollars worth of jewelry. 

"How…" Kara cleared the break in her voice, eyes drifting lower to the charcoal tint of those leggings that showed off more than Kara thought a pair of leggings could when compared to the countless times Kara had seen Cat's bare legs. "How can I help?"

"There's silverware in the drawer to your right and another bottle of water would do nicely." 

Kara nodded, her cheeks flushing as Cat took the time to relinquish her of the empty water bottle and toss it in a hidden bin beneath the counter. 

She made for the fridge next, while Cat cut perfect squares out of the dish and set each serving on its own plate. Bottles and silverware in hand, Kara lingered nearby until Cat nudged her gently with her hip as she walked past her again. 

Kara was going to be dizzy if Cat kept that up, turning her around this way and that like she was. It was as intoxicating as it was discombobulating. 

With sure steps Cat led Kara through her great room, nudging a panel near the glass wall leading to the balcony. The soft whine of the wall's mechanisms sounded as the panels turned outward and exposed the entire room to the outdoors. 

The fire at the center of the balcony roared to life shortly thereafter as Cat worked herself around to a large crescent of a lounger before folding herself into it, perfectly balancing the plates in her hands. 

Kara stood idle for a moment, unsure of what to do or where to sit. 

"C'mere…" 

It was all the direction she needed as Kara pushed out of her boots and clamored onto the cushions beside Cat. 

Cat allowed her smirk to shine through at Kara's eagerness, edging the plate closest to Kara aside to allow her more room before handing it over in exchange for silverware and her bottle of water. She set her drink in the nearby edge of stone surrounding the fire before setting her plate into her lap. 

Kara kept her bottle beside her, balancing her plate easily as she cut off a forkful from the corner and practically inhaled the first bite. 

"Omf ma gawd.." Kara edged around her food, savoring each decadent flavor as it exploded in her mouth. 

Cat chuckled to herself, she was never really one to enjoy watching anyone else eat but Kara was an exception. Whether it was her alien nature or some other area that the woman lacked in her life on Earth, the fasination and utter appreciation for food the woman had was indeed a sight to behold. 

"So you like it?"

Kara nodded emphatically, swallowing hard before clearing her throat. Suddenly realizing she must look like a starved animal ravaging a carcass. "Sorry, I… It's really good." 

"You don't have to apologize for enjoying things Kara, especially with that kind of enthusiasm." Cat chewed on her own smaller bite, while Kara still seemed embarrassed by her actions. "I mean that, and anyone who says differently can take a long walk off a short pier."

Kara actually laughed, it was quiet and more of a snort but it was still endearing. 

"It's… food is just different here." It was, even after so many years the differences in proteins and vegetation was vastly different in scope than anything she had available to her on Krypton and Kara was constantly amazed by the way food on Earth could be combined and come out entirely different with certain spices or other aspects; even cooking techniques could vastly alter a meal here.

"Nothing wrong with that." Cat offered, watching Kara closely as she enjoyed another mouthful. 

"People... used to make fun of me when I was younger." They made fun of her when she was older too but she had an easier time managing that now… or so she thought. 

Cat's gaze lifted sharply, she had already figured Kara's youth on this planet had been hard enough. Especially if she had powers when she was just a child. Children were cruel, especially those who refused to acknowledge the differences in others and embrace them uniquely and chose instead to tear others apart for them. 

"Being different scares people, youth gives us a superiority complex we don't realize we have until we're older. Some of us anyway." 

"Sounds like there's a story there." Kara mused offhandedly as Cat settled back into the lounger. 

"There's always a story," Cat stated knowingly, setting her half eaten plate aside. "I wasn't exactly the queen of my campus like I am here." 

Kara hummed with an amused note. "I find that hard to believe. I imagine you were always at the head of anything you were a part of."

Cat smirked, giving a small shake of her head. "I was shy, quiet, I hung out with popular people because our parents were in the same circles and that's what you do but I was also guilty by association as being one of the mean girls." 

Kara rose a high brow with Cat's descriptors of herself, finding it hard to believe Cat could be any of those things. "What do you mean?"

"Well," Cat started, pausing as she took a sip of her water. "Quiet meant I didn't engage in conversation, which for some translated to my being stuck up. Shy meant I couldn't look people in the eye half the time, which again made others outside my group of friends believe they just weren't worth the effort. Along with the fact the group I hung out with were all of those things and more cause we were the rich kids." 

Kara set aside her empty plate. "You didn't hang out with other people outside that?" 

Cat reached over and snagged her plate, offering it Kara as if it were the natural progression of things. She knew well enough that one serving couldn't possibly be enough for the other woman. "I did, or tried. As I said, being different scares people. I had other friends, until I didn't. They just sort of faded away once they figured out where I came from."

Kara took the plate easily, already working on her second bite of lasagna when Cat spoke before swallowing heartily in order to reply without choking. "That… is the worst feeling."

Cat studied Kara carefully, noting how her shoulders dropped slightly and her eyes lowered in a show of personal recollection of what Cat had described. Realizing how both of them were still subject to that ideal from others. 

"Can I ask you something?" 

Kara set Cat's plate aside, her appetite having waned before looking over at Cat curiously. Normally the woman would have just asked her question, to request permission to ask it was a whole other matter. Kara felt her chest swell with warmth from nothing more than the consideration of it, even without knowing the question beyond an inherent understanding that it was going to be uncomfortably personal on some level. 

"Ask away…" she tried to sound cavalier but wasn't sure she pulled it off as Cat continued to stare at her. 

"Is that why, you never told me, why you still haven't directly said what you are?" 

Kara mulled over the choice of phrase Cat had utilized. Not who she was but what. It was an argument Kara had had with Alex and others before. Being Kara and Supergirl wasn't a matter of two separate people, but a matter of who Kara was and what she could do as Supergirl. It struck her harder than Cat intended and it must have shown in her eyes as Cat moved closer. 

"Kara…" Cat breathed her name like a devotion, unsure fingers reaching for her before coming up short. "I didn't mean to-"

"You didn't," Kara assured, grabbing for Cat's hand and pulling it close. "You just… most people…" Kara puffed out a breath, shoving her emotions back as she held Cat's hand against her chest where her crest would normally reside. 

"They don't see _that_."

"See what?" Cat whispered, edging closer. 

"Me, like that. They see Kara and they see Supergirl. Two separate things not-"

"You and the things you are capable of."

Kara nodded, letting out a rough exhale. "I'm sorry-"

"What have I told you about that?" Cat said gently, reaching up with her free hand to stroke Kara's face. "You never have to apologize to me." 

Kara squeezed Cat's hand, features leaning into the caress against her cheek. "I… wanted to tell you even before I ever put on my suit." 

Cat smiled softly, knowing she might have had Kara go through a psych eval for it. 

"Then there were other things that happened that made it harder, especially after I put on the suit." 

"Other things?" 

Kara drew in a slow, deep breath, dates were meant to get to know each other right? What good would it serve if Cat continued with whatever this fledgling start was without knowing the whole truth. "Being your assistant, was like being your own personal superhero and I admit I used every advantage I had."

Cat brushed her thumb along Kara's cheek, her soft smile lingering. "No wonder it takes two now." 

Kara smiled faintly before dropping her gaze a bit. "It was also something that was mine. I chose it, happily, willingly. It wasn't preordained or controlled by a hundred other things."

Cat raised an eyebrow to that but remained quiet for the moment. 

"Then it went past that, somewhere I started blurring lines and I know that's not right and I could say with someone like you in such close proximity day after day it would be impossible not to but-"

"You let yourself develop feelings beyond the job."

Kara looked up sharply at that. 

Cat looked right back at her, gaze unwavering before slowly leaning closer. "Did you honestly think that you were the only one?"

Kara barely registered Cat's whispered words, her lips parting as if to speak while words failed her. 

Cat's hand turned, her knuckles gently cascading along Kara's cheek. "It takes two people to allow those kinds of things to grow. To be aware enough not to act, to show restraint because there just might be something worth waiting for." 

Kara kicked her lips absently, her heart pounding in her ears. "I'm Supergirl…" 

Cat felt her chest tighten with Kara's words, unsure how they meant so much beyond what any other phrase she might have expected Kara to say would have. She searched out the other woman's gaze, giving the barest shake of her head.

"You're Kara... and I've been falling for you, a little bit everyday since I met you." 

Kara closed the last bit of distance between them, their lips barely touching before she stopped herself, registering the faintest whimper from the other woman but no other sound or action to take control of the situation followed. 

"I can't…" Kara whispered, feeling Cat tense as the other woman's eyes slivered open just enough to look at her. 

"Okay…" 

Kara let out a faint wanton sigh with Cat's submission. "I...want to, so badly..." Kara flexed her hand around Cat's own, drawing back just enough to see Cat in proper focus. "I won't be able to stop…"

Cat's eyes flared slightly as if Kara were laying out promises she intended to keep instead of self denials. 

"And I want more than fleeting moments behind closed doors or hurried fumblings because you've wound me up so tight I can't even breathe…" Kara swallowed hard, her insides screaming at her to just give in and take what was offered now. "I want more than just sex Cat… no matter how willing I am to break that first date rule." 

Cat bit back the smile Kara's words drew out of her with a brief visible pull of her tongue that made Kara curse herself a thousand times over. Kara closed her eyes, putting even more distance between them as she sat further back, hand reluctantly releasing Cat before the woman's touch drifted away. 

Cat could easily argue that this was anything but their first date. That they'd had hundreds in the span of nearly four years of working with one another. Every lunch, every banquet, award ceremony, new break, car ride and every private moment in-between. Not to mention everything that had happened at the retreat.

When Kara opened her eyes again she half expected disappointment, rejection, even anger to greet her not the broadening of that smile and the underlying, almost waylaid, expression behind it. 

"It's late…" 

It was late when they had first met at the restaurant and hotel. The stark reality of that coming into sharper focus for Kara as she finally seemed to grasp the level with which her co-workers had gone to. With another look up, Cat's features tilted curiously until understanding took hold. 

"I should go…" Kara said hesitantly before standing while Cat remained seated. 

"That's wise…" Cat said after another moment, slowly standing as Kara started to gather their plates. "You can leave those."

"But you cooked."

"Another rule?" 

Kara nodded, her hands curling into fists at her sides. 

"Very well, you can load them into the dishwasher while I get a car ready to take you home. No arguing, that's one of my rules."

Kara fought the urge to rush over and grab Cat up as a means to argue but instead gathered their dishes and made her way back inside. Cat wasn't too far behind, already on the phone with the front desk of her building by the time Kara was done. 

In the span of what felt like a few seconds they were walking out of the elevator, crossing the main level of Cat's building. The car was already waiting, the doorman holding the rear passenger side ajar. 

Kara's fingers barely registered the cool pane of glass that was the main entrance before her hands fit around warm, slender hips in response to the faint tug at her arm a second before. Cat fit against her easily, hands smoothing around Kara's biceps as she nosed the taller woman's chin. 

"I can't let you leave without breaking one rule," Cat whispered, before Kara pulled her up enough to silence her. 

Cat felt the earth stop moving in those countless seconds that Kara kissed her breathless. Strong hands circled her waist, lifting her a whisper above the ground with a stifled moan. Kara answers in kind, relishing in the taste of the other woman on her lips and against her tongue before Cat's hands dug into her arms with a sharp intake of breath as her lunga remembered they needed oxygen to function. 

Kara eased her down slowly, the intensity of her kiss gradually smoothing out until they parted with a trembling breath. 

"I have to go…" 

Cat felt her insides swirl with the deeper tone of Kara's voice, her body hot enough to start a fire that would consume them both without remorse. Her hands smoothed inward, fanning out over the flat of Kara's chest for a long moment before she gently pushed herself away. 

"I know." 

Kara felt weak, as if her legs were made of rubber and her hands were encased in lead. Her heart pounding against her ribs visibly as her skin flushed red along her throat. 

"Can I see you again… like this?"

Cat smiled wryly, arms crossing tight over her chest as her hands fisted around her sweatshirt. "One condition."

"Name it."

"Our next date, is at your place." 

Kara straightened, refraining herself from holding onto the wall as her legs went numb with the request. 

"Are you sure?"

"Abso-fucking-lutely." 

Kara closed her eyes to the onslaught that reply evoked in her, only to open them and find Cat a few steps further away. _'Smart move',_ she thought before clearing her throat. 

"O...okay… I'll check with your assistants for your schedule-"

"Pick a time and day, and I'm there, no checking in required, darling."

Kara's chest caved and she pushed off the wall, provoking Cat to step back another step. 

"Thursday, six o'clock… it's a holiday weekend." 

Cat eyed the other woman with a small smile before nodding. "Goodnight Kara."

Kara watched Cat back up another step or two before sidestepping towards the door and the waiting car. "Goodnight Cat." 


	34. Chapter 34

By the time Monday rolled around it seemed like business as usual. All the major players had returned to work, other news cycles were in play and for the most part it seemed as if everything was just like it was before the flood. 

Almost everything. There had been one incident while Kara had been out, attempting to finish the piece she had started with M'Gann when trouble entered the bar. One more misguided idiot in a throng of idiots who still could not wrap their head around aliens and humans coexisting, despite the President's executive order to the contrary. 

Kara had managed to hold her own, albeit as mild mannered reporter, and even managed to call in Alex before all hell had broken loose. Now she was getting an earful from the director, not her sister, where she sat on a medical table. M'gann was in the next room speaking with J'onn, and for good reason. 

Amidst the fighting, Kara had managed to convey to the Martian that her powers were still on some kind of fritz which had promoted M'gann to shift into Supergirl with the real Supergirl, masquerading as Kara watching her back. 

Which would have been fine, had one of the attackers not had a gun he was not opposed to using. 

"Do you have any idea what could have happened, Kara, if you'd been completely powerless in there?" Alex stopped pacing, Astra was just outside in the hall while Kara merely stared ahead of herself. "What if M'gann wasn't there? We wouldn't have gotten to you in time." 

She knew well enough, if the bruises from the impact of the bullets along her torso were any indicator, she knew more than enough. Kara swallowed hard, looking up at Alex who was balancing on a line between duty and emotion. 

"I wasn't just going to hide in a corner Alex." 

"You're exposed Kara, in more ways than one." 

"That's easy to work around, maybe Kara Danvers wears a vest, cause Supergirl said so or because it's required now by CatCo in some unknown contract clause."

"You think Cat's gonna back that up?"

Kara shifted her jaw and looked away again, already knowing the story was all over the news and that she'd been named as one of the people there and possibly injured. Alex had already stripped her of her phone when she'd been brought in and already knew Cat had probably called or texted or something. 

No sooner did the thought cross her mind, Alex straightened and listened in on her comm, Kara's had been silenced on Alex's order with her extraction. She tipped her head slightly catching a few words before Alex looked over at her and gave a dark sigh. 

"Put her on hold, but before you do inform her that if she just shows up here she'll have to deal with more than just me."

Kara rose a brow, watching her sister carefully before the other woman crossed her arms over her chest. 

"She's making demands again."

"Who?"

"Cat. She's threatening to show up here-"

"Hey, you were the one that let her past the civilian section, Alex, not me. That's on you."

"Yeah well, you're staying put and so is she." Alex turned with that, already telling Winn to patch Cat through. 

"Alex…" Kara tried, sliding off the table after her sister, "Alex!" 

Alex continued on down the hall, clearly engaged with Cat over her comm before Astra's imposing form blocked the view. Before Kara could argue the woman's arms were around her, hugging her without a word until Kara acquiesced and leaned into the other woman slightly. 

"I know how hard it is to refrain from taking action Little One," Astra offered after another long moment between them, allowing Kara to ease herself back. "I can teach you how to hold your own without the security of your powers, but I cannot teach you how to dodge a bullet."

Kara sighed, already anticipating another lecture. "I know…"

"You did a very brave thing, stupid but brave just the same." 

"Gee thanks Astra." 

Astra smoothed Kara's hair from her face, looking at her niece for a long moment. "Alexandra wanted to keep you here, until you got them back fully."

"She can't do that, people other than Cat would notice."

"Yes, I told her this, but she countered with the fact that if you continue on your present course she will not have a choice." 

Kara shook her head, telling her not to act to something like what happened at the alien bar was like telling a hummingbird to stop flying. "I… don't even know why they're fluctuating like they are."

Astra's mouth quirked with a quiet smile as she wrapped an arm around Kara's shoulders and started to walk her back into the medical room. "There is a very similar instance of that in soldiers, at least when I was still in command of them there was."

Kara glanced over at Astra, it was easy to forget sometimes where she had come from, especially given her position, or lack therein, of one now. Astra was a General, the ultimate highest order beyond the council back on Krypton. Practically royalty in any given circumstance. She commanded legions of Kryptonians and protected their homeworld versus the unranked overseer of new recruits and agents that she was now. 

"And? What was the reason?" 

Astra shrugged as Kara eased back up onto the medical table. "Different things for different people, but most often it was something up here." She tapped at her temple, "though there were the rare instances that it had to do with something that could not be reconciled here." 

Astra set her hand over Kara's heart with that, while her niece just looked down at her hand. 

"Meaning what?"

"I think there is a part of you that is unwilling to embrace your powers, or that part of you, because of what it would mean concerning Cat."

Kara drew in a slow breath, feeling a small surge in her energy levels and strength before it flattened out again. "Is it-"

"That obvious? Yes little one, your feelings for her, towards her, run very deep. Deeper than even you may realize."

Kara slouched, as Astra's hand slipped away from her, rounding over her shoulder along with its opposite. 

"You are conflicted, uncertain, but not about that." 

"She's leaving." Kara said with a thoughtful note while Astra merely looked on. "I think, I'm afraid with time and distance, getting… much more involved would-"

"Kara." Astra bent down, pulling her niece's attention once they were eye level. "Do you love her?"

"Yes."

"More than just in passing, would your feelings wane if she were not close enough to touch everyday?"

"No."

Astra nodded slowly. 

"What is time then? Or distance? For creatures like us especially? You are not human, to think of those things on their level is a detriment. How long did Rao see fit to have you wait before guiding you to Earth? Time and distance are concepts that have no real hold on us, and yet we allow ourselves to fall into the trap that they hold for humanity."

Kara furrowed her brow, studying Astra carefully. 

"I wasted so much time, with you, and again with Alexandra. I kept my distance because I thought it served me when I was actually a slave to it. Do not make those mistakes Kara. Not with this."

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	35. Chapter 35

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been 84 years. 
> 
> Still hanging in there, lots of life changes. Stay healthy, wear a mask, be considerate of one another.

By the time Alex allowed Kara to leave the DEO the sun was already setting. Morphing the sky into a rich tapestry of dark jewel tones accentuated by the fading sun. 

Kara was sore, mildly so but enough to find the discomfort in it, especially as she trudged up the steps to her apartment. The heady scent of a home cooked meal filled her senses and she felt her stomach clench with the want for whatever was being made, most likely from a neighboring apartment. 

She heaved out a sigh, knowing she could order out but with whatever meal was being prepared, it wouldn't be nearly as satisfying. Kara had just unlocked the top lock when her phone chimed, pulling her attention. 

" _ Sorry for earlier, I know I can get carried away with you. It's because I love you."  _

Alex's words soothed the tension Kara had been carrying, having left the DEO in a bit of a huff and refusing to talk to Alex even when her sister had signed her out for release. Not that that would have stopped Kara, but still. 

_ "I love you too." _

_ "Get some rest, call if you need anything."  _

Kara turned the key to her doorknob, stepping inside before closing the thing behind herself and divesting of her bag and ruined jacket before her fingers curled around the lower edges of her shirt.

"Might be wise to stop there." Cat said causing Kara to nearly jump out of her skin before wincing inward towards her core. 

Cat's voice was decidedly unexpected and the very sound of it, coupled with the sudden presence of the other woman reaching for her, made Kara almost want to cry. 

"What're you doing here?" 

Cat smiled gently, drawing Kara to her and kissing her as if she did so every evening. It was chaste and brief but held more weight than Kara could have expected. She leaned into it, a hand wrapping low along Cat's back before the other woman's hands were at her face tenderly separating them. 

"You honestly didn't think I'd come away empty handed after talking to Alexandra did you?"

"I half expected you to show up." 

Cat smirked, fingertips smoothing along Kara's skin and down towards her neck where she gently pawed at the cords there. 

"How do you think I got a key?"

Kara couldn't help the laugh that escaped her, soft and breathless as she leaned in and kissed Cat again, relishing in the fleeting taste of Cat's lips. 

"Mmm... what've you been making?" 

Cat smiled broadly, nudging Kara's chin before slipping away from her. "You'll see, in the meantime, maybe you should get changed?" 

Kara nodded, watching Cat maneuver around the much smaller kitchen space her apartment had to offer before clearing her throat and pointing towards her room. Cat waved her off knowingly before Kara disappeared. 

By the time Kara returned Cat was on the phone, lazily stirring something around in a pan that filled her apartment with a rich, earthy scent. She padded across the floor quietly on socked feet, hands smoothing around Cat's hips as the woman leaned back into her. 

"Yes, she's alright. Don't stay up too much later, I'll see you sooner than you realize." Cat said as Kara nuzzled into her. "I am well aware of my permissions young man, I'll be sure to let her know… love you." 

"If you need to leave-"

"Not yet, but soon." Cat warned with a touch of regret before setting her phone down and moving the pan off the burner to cool. 

Kara stepped back enough to allow Cat to move as the woman turned, mindful of the stove as she pushed forward until Kara was backed against the island. 

"Now…" Cat breathed, her tone and demeanor shifting enough to catch Kara off guard. "Before we eat, let me see."

"See what?" 

Cat gestured to Kara's shirt, making an upward motion while never taking her eyes off the other woman. 

"Uhm… you sure you want to do that  _ before _ we eat?"

"Don't play coy,  _ Supergirl _ , this isn't about wanting to see you so much as what happened to you." 

That took the wind out of Kara's sails a bit, understanding now what Cat meant. She seemed reluctant, knowing what lay beneath her shirt was merely temporary, it was already better than when she first arrived at the DEO. 

Kara swallowed visibly, her fingers toying with the hem of her shirt while Cat rose a high eyebrow at her. She let out a quiet sigh before curling her shirt into her hands and slowly lifting the thing upward. 

Cat's intake of breath was palpable and made Kara faulter slightly until Cat's fingertips brushed her skin. The ache she felt underneath that touch shifted, the soreness and pain giving way to something carnal, bordering on arousal. She pulled her bottom lip in between her teeth, biting down gently as the delicate touch of Cat's fingers laid over her skin followed by the warmth of her palms as they settled. 

Cat pulled in a deeper breath than she intended at seeing the dark bruises where bullets had hit their intended mark; webbing out in a nebulous formation of broken capillaries in two distinct places. One at Kara's solar plexus, which seemed to be the worse of the two, and the other a little lower on her left side along her ribs. 

She silently thanked whomever was watching over Kara, that the woman wasn't injured worse or otherwise as memories of their ill-fated camping excursion and what she had been witness to there flooded her mind. 

"I'm okay…" Kara breathed on a whisper, seeing Cat's eyes turn glassy for a brief moment before they hardened. 

Fingertips flexed gently, cautiously, with the words as Cat stepped closer still. Her touch swirled tenderly over hot skin, the pulsating beat of Kara's heart easily felt before she smoothed her hands to Kara's sides and kneaded at the contours of her body. 

"Thank… Rao?" Cat thought that was the correct name and as Kara seemed to melt into her touch even more she knew it was. "God might not have been so forgiving." 

Kara let her hold on her shirt ease, hands trailing along Cat's arms as a means to soothe her. 

"Does your sister know why?"

Kara shook her head. 

"Then what good are all those people there if they can't figure it out?"

"They're human." 

Cat cut her eyes up as if to relay that _that_ wasn't an excuse. 

"Astra… seems to think it's all me, in my head, after everything that happened-"

"At the camp." 

Kara nodded and Cat frowned slightly. 

"I don't think I have a therapist I can trust enough to recommend." 

Kara smiled softly, despite how much Cat would deny it she was always the fixer. A trait that Kara still couldn't figure out, for the life of her, why Cat kept so silent on. 

"I wouldn't ask-"

"I know." 

Kara breathed deeply, the subtle stretch of Cat's fingers and the warm sensation of the other woman's skin on hers ran deep, soothing some of the various aches running rampant inside her while igniting others. She drifted closer on another breath, watching Cat's eyes dilate and her own breath catch with the subtle nearness. 

Kara bent down slightly, nose barely brushing against Cat's own as her lips lingered just beyond Cat's reach. "I know you can't kiss it all away…" 

"But it would make you feel better wouldn't it?" 

Kara barely nodded with Cat's statement before the woman's fingers flexed against her bare skin again. Cat pushed up on the balls of her feet, closing the small distance between them. Her eyes fluttering closed as she felt more than heard Kara whimper with the contact. 

That simple noise held more pleading and wishful thinking that if Kara had asked her directly to stay even if both of them knew she couldn't. Cat chased after the sound, longing to draw another up as she sampled Kara's bottom lip with the gentle pressure of her tongue. 

Kara pulled in a deeper breath through her nose on instinct, ignoring the lance of pain across her torso with the action as her hands settled around Cat's hips and drew her closer. Cat eased herself against Kara's body, her own little noise of arousal bubbling up from her chest at the broad pressure against her that was Kara's thigh. 

Hands kneaded at her back, rounding over her hips and lower before pulling her in again, she stepped wide with the movement, offering another low sound of approval and arousal as Kara slotted her thigh between Cat's own. Kara breathed roughly, as if she had forgotten how to do so properly a second before Cat invaded her mouth. 

Cat's hands slid around her before drawing away to brace herself along the top of the island behind Kara, bracketing her frame with her arms while her hips moved in a slow, fluid circle towards the other woman. Kara shifted slightly, body lowering just enough for Cat to settle her entire weight against her, held up by the strength of Kara's leg. She felt heat against her thigh, flexing the muscle there as Cat sucked on her bottom lip before rolling her hips against the other woman all over again. 

Kara's mind fragmented, focusing on the thick, heady emotions and sensations ricochetting across her nerves, causing them to misfire and erupt with their own microbursts in response. She felt heavy and weightless in the same instant, hips lifting forward towards Cat as she whined against her mouth and rolled against her once more. 

Cat knew they should stop, that her reason for being here was not this but to take care of the other woman, and right now she wanted to take care of a vast many long awaited things. She squeezed her legs around Kara's thigh, hips digging in against the other woman as the muscle between rippled and hardened. She moaned openly into Kara's mouth, finding just the right angle to rub herself against just as Kara's hands rounded over her ass and held her in place. 

Kara teased and nipped at Cat's mouth before the other woman caught her again, tongue languidly slipping inside as Cat sucked in a sharp breath and ground down against Kara's thigh. Kara begged Rao to let her have this moment, if nothing else she wanted to feel Cat come undone in her arms and with the barest tremble along the other woman's body, knew it wouldn't be long for that very thing to occur. 

Cat hummed against Kara's mouth as her hips stuttered and rounded over and over again in tight circles against Kara's thigh while the woman kneaded at her and urged herself up higher against Cat's frame. Electricity snapped Cat's body to attention as her hands lifted from the counter and fanned over Kara's back in response. She breathed hard and heavy, the sound wrapped around a rolling wave of a whimper that Kara devoured eagerly. 

Kara's body caved inward, as every little rupture of Cat's synapses reverberated into her. Arms wound themselves around Cat's body, hugging her closer until she felt a sharp pressure against her bottom lip and broke away. Cat's head thumped against her collarbones as fingers flexed against the bare skin of her back while Cat breathed over her until Kara heard the barest whisper. 

"Fuck…"

Kara swallowed hard, caught between laughing and something else that faded away as Cat urged herself back on shaky legs. 

"Cat, I-" whatever else Kara was going to say was silenced by Cat's muzzle of a hand as she gradually regained her composure. 

"You haven't done anything wrong and there's nothing to apologize for." Cat ushered, fixing her skirt with her free hand before she dared to look up at the other woman. Her heart broke open in her chest at the sight as the voice inside her head went on a rampage. 

"Please, Kara, please believe me when I say I want nothing more than to stay." Cat felt her heart break even more when she felt the other woman's frame lower as if in some kind of defeat. She dropped her hand, grabbing at Kara's shirt front before pulling her in and kissing her silent, rounding over muffled vowels and the urgency of whatever Kara had started to say until the other woman was stunned silent. 

"I don't want to fumble along with you."

Cat's whispers were hot at Kara's ear and she felt as if she were on the verge of freefalling. 

"Or rush the things we both want to do to each other, but I can't stay, not tonight, and if you so much as look at me right now I won't be able to leave."

Kara floundered when she came back into herself, finding Cat's frame gone from within her arms and already halfway across her apartment. 

"Cat, wait!"

Cat stopped just shy of the door, her back to the other woman, fingertips poised on the door handle. She heard Kara move behind her, bracing herself for an impact that never came. Her whole body shuddered in the next instant as Kara's fingertips filtered into her hair before the heat of her body radiated against Cat's own as she stepped closer from behind. 

Kara nosed the edge of Cat's ear, placing the faintest kiss against the sensitive skin and pulling a whine from the other woman in the process. "Thank you… for dinner." 

Cat started to turn only to have Kara keep her from doing so with a gentle pressure on the back of her neck as the other woman opened her apartment door. "Maybe I'll see you at work tomorrow…" 


End file.
